Crisis of the Australian submarines: Jean Yves Le Drian calls on the Europeans to “deep reflections” and c – Franceinfo

The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, again denounced Monday, September 20, on American soil, a “lack of consultation” the United States in the case of the submarine contract broken by Australia. The foreign minister, who was speaking from the UN headquarters in New York, insisted on the “permanence of reflexes of an era that we hoped to be over”, during a press conference.

“The subject is first of all that of the breakdown of trust between allies”, and that “calls for heavy reflections between Europeans”, he added on the sidelines of the UN Annual General Assembly. “What is at issue today, beyond the termination of an industrial contract, the sudden, unexpected, unexplained termination”, “what matters now is first of all the question of the breakdown of trust between partners”, he insisted.

Jean-Yves Le Drian once again deplored the “brutality of the announcement” made by US President Joe Biden, on September 15, of a new strategic alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom, which torpedoed a mega-contract of French submarines in Canberra (Australia). It is akin to “the permanence of reflexes of an era that we hoped to be over”, he hammered, in a clear allusion to the tenure of former US President Donald Trump.