France blasts Australia, UK, US deal, diplomat says France has been ‘stabbed in the back’

France blasts Australia’s decision to scrap a multi-billion submarine deal in favour of a new defence pact and nuclear boats from US.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Emmanuel Macron at the Presidential Palace in France in June. Picture: Adam Taylor/PMO

France has blasted Australia’s decision to scrap a multi-billion submarine deal in favour of a new defence pact and nuclear boats from the United States.

In a joint statement on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drien and French Defence Minister Florence Parly said the scrapping of the $90 billion subs deal with Naval Group was “contrary to the spirit and the letter” of cooperation between Canberra and Paris.

French President Emmanual Macron’s top diplomatic and military ministers also blasted the Biden Administration for leaving France out of the new defence pact with Australia and Britain.

“The American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region ... shows a lack of coherence that France can only note and regret,” the French ministerial statement said.

“The decision is contrary to the letter and the spirit of the cooperation that prevailed between France and Australia, based on a relationship of political trust as well as the development of a very high-level defence industrial and technological base in Australia.”

France’s former ambassador to the US also lashed out over the new arms deal struck between Australia, the US, and the UK, saying his country has been “stabbed in the back”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the landmark deal on Thursday for Australia’s submarine program to “go nuclear” under a defence pact with Joe Biden and Boris Johnson.

But the French diplomat was outraged by the news, telling Twitter he believed the deal had nothing to do with nuclear capabilities and was actually about Australia trying to secure a “juicy contract”.

“The world is a jungle,” Gerard Araud declared.

“France has just been reminded this bitter truth by the way the US and the UK have stabbed her in the back in Australia.”

The world is a jungle. France has just been reminded this bitter truth by the way the US and the UK have stabbed her in the back in Australia. C’est la vie.

— Gérard Araud (@GerardAraud) September 15, 2021

Talks between France and Australia over a potential deal with France’s Naval Group SA to build a new fleet of submarines occurred earlier this year but were marred by delays and frustrations.

The new submarines were not expected to be delivered until about 2035, and defence strategists expressed concerns that this timeline was too sluggish considering tensions in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to increase.

By June, Mr Morrison announced he had a “candid” discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron over delays and cost overruns in his government’s deal.

But Mr Araud felt snubbed by the new deal, declaring it had “nothing to do with capabilities”.

“France was able to sell nuc(lear) powered submarines,” he said.

Mr Araud concluded that Australia, the US, and the UK had made the deal at “the expense” of his nation as an ally.

It has nothing to do with capabilities : France was able to sell nuc powered submarines. And everything with getting a juicy contract at the expense of an ally. https://t.co/BBQULacXvS

— Gérard Araud (@GerardAraud) September 15, 2021