Paris opposed the EU free trade talks with Australia over the AUKUS defense alliance scandal between Washington, London and Canberra, as a result of which the Australian side tore off a major contract for the purchase of submarines from France.

This was stated by the Secretary of State for European Affairs at the French Foreign Ministry, Clement Bon, in an interview with Politico.

According to him, after such an undermining of confidence, the EU can hardly continue these discussions.

“Keeping our word is a condition of trust between democracies and allies,” he said, “so as if nothing had happened, moving forward in trade negotiations with a country we no longer trust is unthinkable.”

As the newspaper recalled, to date, Brussels and Canberra have held 11 rounds of free trade negotiations, and initially the Australian side hoped to conclude an agreement by the end of this year.

Politico also notes that, in theory, the European Commission has exclusive powers to conduct trade negotiations on behalf of the 27 EU member states, but in practice Brussels is unlikely to do this given the position of Paris.

Earlier, Western media reported that due to the situation around AUKUS, the French authorities canceled a meeting between the French and British defense ministers, which had been scheduled in London.

At the same time, British Prime Minister Johnson, against the backdrop of the outbreak of the scandal, declared London's "love" for Paris.

“Our love for France is ineradicable,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

“We are very proud of our relations with France, and they are of great importance to our country.”

Johnson also emphasized that this is a "very friendly relationship" that goes back "a century or more and is critical" for the UK.

  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

  • Reuters

  • © Hannah McKay / Pool

Prior to this, Paris also decided to recall the ambassadors from the United States and Australia following the formation of the AUKUS defense alliance.

This was announced by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Then he called "unacceptable behavior" canberra's termination of the contract for the purchase of French non-nuclear submarines in favor of the acquisition of nuclear submarines built using American technology.

New Defense Alliance

Recall that on September 15, the United States, Great Britain and Australia announced the formation of the AUKUS defense alliance, named after the first letters in the names of these countries in English.

As part of the partnership, the American side will transfer technology to Canberra for the construction of its own nuclear submarines, as well as US cruise missiles.

At the same time, Australia broke the contract for € 56 billion, which involved the supply of 12 French Attack class attack submarines.

Paris condemned such actions by Washington, London and Canberra.

As the head of the French Foreign Ministry said, "the allies do not behave like that."

He also called it a "stab in the back."

At the same time, the leader of the “Unconquered France” party, Jean-Luc Melanchon, said that Paris should stop harboring illusions, “abandon subordination” and withdraw from NATO.

In his opinion, the current situation calls into question the relationship of France with its Anglo-Saxon allies.

Not only Paris is negative about the new defense alliance.

German MEP, chairman of the EP's committee on international trade, Bernd Lange, said in an interview with Politico that the EU has "obvious differences" with the United States, especially with regard to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, "which, by the way, were the conditions of the French European proposal for submarines. "

However, according to Lange, this is not the only negative consequence of the creation of AUKUS.

“Industrial policy cooperation and science and technology exchanges, which are part of the EU's Indo-Pacific Strategy, are now difficult,” he said.

According to Lange, the answer should be “to expand the open strategic autonomy of the European Union and to designate” European interests in the field of economics, politics and security.

"Considered a serious insult"

As Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, noted, due to the formation of the AUKUS defense alliance and the disruption of the supply of French submarines to Australia, Washington, London and Canberra dealt an extremely serious blow to France's interests, including economic ones.

“After all, this contract for the purchase of 12 submarines was grandiose in terms of the amount of investments by the Australian side, its cancellation means large economic losses for Paris.

In addition, we are probably talking about job cuts in France, about some reputational blow for the current French authorities, "the expert said in an interview with RT.

According to Shapovalov, negotiations between the United States, Great Britain and Australia regarding the formation of a defense alliance of these three countries were actually conducted behind the back of France.

  • Elysee Palace

  • AFP

  • © Sameer Al-DOUMY

“This is regarded by Paris as a serious insult, moreover, from the transatlantic allies.

In fact, the three Anglo-Saxon countries have indeed shown disregard for the interests of France, ”the analyst said.

It was this resentment of the French side that pushed it to oppose the EU free trade negotiations with Australia, Shapovalov stated.

“And Brussels is really likely to take into account the position of Paris.

If such discussions are ultimately blocked, it will be a serious blow to Australia's interests, including economic ones.

The French side can take other steps against Canberra, for example, by squeezing Australian goods out of the French markets.

Paris will strive to inflict maximum both economic and political damage to Australia, ”the expert explained.

According to Sergei Fedorov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Paris's opposition to the continuation of EU free trade negotiations with Canberra is “a completely natural move” by France, which seeks to pour out its irritation and discontent into concrete steps that would negatively affect unreliable partners.

"In this case, despite all the friction and disagreement within the European Union, most EU countries are likely to support the position of France, which is one of the main countries in the union," the analyst said in a commentary on RT.

Nor will the UK be able to avoid the consequences after joining AUKUS, Shapovalov believes.

According to him, relations between London and Paris began to deteriorate even before that, but a new incident could lead to aggravation of the existing contradictions between the parties.

“Now a new conflict over a defense alliance is superimposed on old difficulties and mutual misunderstandings.

This means that French-British relations are likely to be severely damaged for a while.

And the ties between the two countries will develop according to an unfavorable scenario, ”the analyst said.

Shapovalov also stressed that France will not forget that there is at least one more culprit behind the breakdown of the deal - this is Washington, against which Paris will also "take certain steps."

Shapovalov predicted that against the backdrop of deteriorated relations with the United States, Great Britain and Australia, France will begin to pedal even more strongly the initiative to create its own defense system of the European Union.

“Paris, being one of the initiators of the idea of ​​forming a so-called European army, not subordinate to NATO and uniting the forces of the EU countries, will actively make efforts in this direction,” the expert said.

At the same time, according to Fedorov, the United States and Great Britain are already giving signals that they want to soften the conflict with the French side.

  • Flags of the USA and Great Britain

  • Reuters

  • © Mike Blake / File

“The British and Americans will try to offer France the so-called 'political carrots' to hush up this unpleasant situation.

However, a serious crisis in relations between these states is evident.

And whether Washington and London will succeed in pleasing Paris is a big question.

We see that, despite the words about the unity of values ​​of the Western countries, the differences between the allies are significant, ”the analyst said.

As Shapovalov summed up, the situation around AUKUS is another very "serious step towards a split in the collective West."

"The split of the West that has already begun is intensifying: the position of continental Europe, led by France and Germany, and separately the interests of the Anglo-Saxon community, which is becoming more and more detached from the EU and begins to act in defiance of European countries, is becoming more and more clear," the analyst concluded.