French ambassador rips into Scott Morrison on The Project over broken sub deal

An ex French ambassador to the US has ripped into Scott Morrison over the failed French submarine deal in a furious rant on The Project.

A former French Ambassador to the US has labelled Australia’s bold move to pull out of a $90 billion submarine deal in favour of the US “brutal and unelegant”.

Blasting Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a fiery rant, Gerard Araud hinted relations are a long way from repair while appearing on The Project on Wednesday night.

Former French Ambassador to the US Gerard Araud called the move ‘brutal’.

Today, trade minister Dan Tehan said the federal government “expected” France to be disappointed with the decision to scrap the agreement and opting to construct a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS alliance instead.

The backflip was met with harsh criticism from France, and has led to speculation the possibility of a free-trade agreement between Australia and the European Union may not go ahead.

When asked why Australia pulling out of the agreement has caused such upset in the European country, Mr Araud told The Project it had little to do with the money.

“I have to insist on the fact that on the fairytale figure of $90 billion, actually 15 per cent was going to the French. Lots of the money was for the weapons system which has been chosen by the Australian and for the Australian industry.”

Mr Araud didn’t mince words during the interview.

He went on to claim the country was led to believe the deal was set to go ahead right up until the US announcement on September 15.

“I can tell you that, on the 15th September, the very day of the demonstration of the deal, the Ministry of Defence of Australia sent a letter to Paris to say they were satisfied and that we’ll go to the next stage,” he claimed, adding that he was “astonished” by the move.

“We had developed a strategy partnership with Australia. Our navies were training together and everything was thrown away overnight without a warning, without a conversation, it was brutal, unelegant, frankly I’ve never seen anything like this.”

In response, Aly suggested Australia’s decision to sign the new deal made sense given political changes in the Indo-Pacific, particularly involving China.

Waleed probed Mr Araud over the outrage from France.

“Is it fair that Australia would change course on this and decide that it need to update or choose a different set of submarines?” Aly asked.

“Well, first as you know, we can provide the nuclear power accelerants,” Mr Araud replied.

“There was a specific Australian demand. You can change your policy, but I think a minimum of respect with a partner, which has been a good partner, I think it’s necessary. You can’t slap in the face a country the way that Prime Minister Morrison’s done,” he fumed.

“The government’s argument is this was a national security decision that was something that came out of national security meetings, by their nature they’re confidential so Australia simply can’t go around talking to other countries about the decisions well ahead of them being made,” Aly explained.

Reiterating the break of trust felt by France, Mr Araud said it was a matter of “letting the dust settle” until relations could be mended.