“I don’t regret the decision to put Australia’s national interest first. I will never regret it. ” Four days after breaking a gigantic contract concluded in 2016 with France for the supply of conventional submarines, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday (September 19) that the French government knew Canberra already had “Deep and serious reservations” concerning French machines.
” I think they [les Français] would have had every reason to know that we had deep and serious reservations that the capabilities of the Attack-class submarine did not meet our strategic interests, and we had made it clear that we would make a decision based on our national strategic interests ”, he told a press conference in Sydney.
For the Australian Prime Minister, it would have been “Careless” to move forward with this contract despite advice from Australia’s defense and intelligence services, which felt it would run counter to the country’s strategic interests.
“Frustration of the French”
Earlier in the day on Sunday, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said his government had been “Frank, open and honest” with France on its concerns over the deal, which went over budget and years behind schedule.
The minister said he understood the “Annoyance of the French”, but that “The suggestions that the Australian government did not[vait] not reported concerns challenge[ai]ent, frankly, what is on the public record and certainly what has[vait] been said publicly for a long time “.
He assured in particular that he personally expressed these concerns to his French counterpart, Florence Parly, and underlined the “Need for Australia to act in its national interest”. According to Mr. Dutton, Canberra was unable to buy French nuclear-powered ships, due to maintenance operations which must take place every ten years and which include the reloading of nuclear fuel, which is not not the case of American submarines and justifies the choice of the latter, Australia having no nuclear power plant.
“At no time, in any way” France has not received “A clear signal that the contract would be broken”, demented, sunday, in the columns of Guardian, the French Ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thébault. “The feeling of betrayal is very strong”, he adds.
Telephone interview scheduled between Biden and Macron
France, furious at Australia’s decision to withdraw from this contract of 90 billion Australian dollars (56 billion euros), recalled its ambassadors stationed in Canberra and Washington.
Speaking on France 2 on Saturday, the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, spoke of a “Serious crisis” and denounced a “Duplicity” from the United States and Australia. “There was a lie, there was duplicity, there was a major breach of trust, there was contempt, so things didn’t go well between us”, did he declare. He called the withdrawal of the ambassadors an act “Very symbolic” aiming to ” to show [aux pays] former partners (…) that there is really a serious crisis between [la France et l’Australie] “.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced on Sunday, however on BFM-TV that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, had asked for an interview with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and that there would be “A telephone exchange in the next few days”.
There will be from Mr. Macron “A request for clarification”, said Attal, adding that France wanted ” explinations “ on what “Is akin to a major breach of trust”. The government spokesperson again denounced a decision “Secret and confidential” from France’s allies, especially Australia. “There was a legitimate shock and anger [après l’annonce de la rupture du contrat], continued Gabriel Attal, [mais] now we must move forward. “ The day before, Jean-Yves Le Drian had again affirmed that Joe Biden’s way of doing things ” look like[ait] to that of Trump, without the tweets ”.