"The defeat of the Prime Minister suits me very well," reacted Le Drian on Saturday, provoking laughter from the crowd, during a handover ceremony to Catherine Colonna, the new head of French diplomacy.
“The actions taken at the time they were taken were brutal and cynical, and I would even be tempted to say notorious incompetence,” he continued.
“I hope that we can renew a frank and constructive dialogue with Australia in the future,” he concluded.
Canberra had provoked a masterful quarrel last September with Paris by denouncing a contract for the sale of French submarines to the Australian navy for more than 50 billion euros, preferring them Anglo-American nuclear-powered submarines, whose French buildings were not provided.
To mark its anger, France had recalled its ambassador to the United States, an unprecedented act vis-à-vis this historic ally, as well as that in Australia, the country at the origin of the crisis.
“Lying”, “duplicity”, “contempt”
Usually not very expansive, Jean-Yves Le Drian then fired red balls at the offenders in very undiplomatic rather rare terms.
“Lies”, “duplicity”, “contempt”… He had reproached them for having concealed their negotiations for months, denounced a “major breach of trust” between NATO allies and called the United Kingdom in passing “ fifth wheel of the carriage”.
In early April, Australian authorities admitted that Canberra would have to pay up to 5.5 billion Australian dollars (3.7 billion euros) to end the agreement with France.
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