Submarine crisis: Emmanuel Macron re-establishes dialogue with Australian Scott Morrison

Published on : 28/10/2021 – 13:22

Emmanuel Macron met, Thursday, October 28, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the first time since the crisis caused by the announcement in mid-September of a new alliance between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Uni, which torpedoed a mega-contract of French submarines passed with Canberra, according to the Élysée.

The French Head of State stressed that “it was now up to the Australian government to propose concrete actions which would embody the will of the highest Australian authorities to redefine the bases of our bilateral relationship and to pursue joint action in the Indo-Pacific. “, specified the presidency.

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Paris had expressed its anger after Australia’s sudden decision to terminate without warning the contract for the purchase of twelve French submarines with conventional propulsion for a value of 90 billion Australian dollars (55 billion euros).

Since then, Emmanuel Macron had not had direct contact with Scott Morrison while he had exchanged with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, both also criticized by Paris after the announcement of the Aukus alliance between the three countries.

The Australian decision “severed the relationship of trust between our two countries”

During the telephone exchange, Emmanuel Macron “recalled that Australia’s unilateral decision to reduce the Franco-Australian strategic partnership by putting an end to the ocean-class submarine program for the benefit of another project which remains to be clarified had broken the relationship of trust between our two countries, “according to the Elysee.

“The greatest attention will be paid to the situation of French companies and their subcontractors, including Australians, affected by this decision,” the statement added.

This exchange took place on the eve of a meeting scheduled for Friday between Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden in Rome before the start of the G20 summit, which will be followed by the COP26 in Glasgow, in which Scott Morrison will participate.

During the discussion, the French President “encouraged the Australian Prime Minister to adopt ambitious measures to meet the climate challenge, in particular the increase of the determined contribution at the national level, the commitment to cease production and the coal consumption at home and abroad, strengthening Australian support for the international solar alliance, “according to the Élysée.

With AFP