Submarines: the situation does not calm down between France and the Aukus alliance countries

French President Emmanuel Macron and Malcolm Turnbull (then Australian Prime Minister) in Sydney in May 2018 (illustrative image).

The understanding was then good between Paris and Canberra.

BRENDAN ESPOSITO POOL / AFP / File

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The crisis linked to the termination by Australia of a mega-contract to purchase French submarines for 56 billion euros is not subsiding.

Canberra's decision to cancel this contract in favor of American submarines has sparked outrage in Paris.

The three countries of the alliance nicknamed Aukus are now trying to reassure Paris.

The US president has offered to call on the French president, and the UK and Australia are trying to defuse this thorny situation

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On the one hand, the British Prime Minister underlined the immense importance of his relationship with his French neighbor, by evoking the “

ineradicable 

”

love 

of London for Paris.

Boris Johnson tried to reassure France by explaining that Aukus - the strategic partnership signed last week to counter China - was not " 

excluding

 " and that Paris should not "be

 worried

 ". 

WWI and WWII

Australia, for its part, declared this Monday, September 20, that tens of thousands of Australians had died on French soil to protect French territory during the First and Second World Wars, thus proving its attachment to France, according to the Australian government.

France is still asking for explanations 

But tensions have not subsided so far.

France continues to demand explanations, on what "is

 akin to a major breach of confidence

 " - this is what said Sunday, the spokesman of the French government, Gabriel Attal.

The foreign ministers of the EU member states will meet this evening on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss the consequences of this affair on trade relations between the Twenty-Seven and Australia.

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To read also: Submarines: Paris cancels a meeting between the French and English defense ministers

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