Submarine Sales: France Condemns Australia’s Withdrawal

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September 17, 2021

Published in La Croix
(France) on 16 September 2021
by La Croix (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Hal Swindall. Edited by Michelle Bisson.

Australia has angered France by tearing up a 2019 supply contract for 12 attack submarines with a surprise agreement Sept. 16 for the delivery of American nuclear submarines.

In what French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called a "stab in the back," he deplored the Tuesday, Sept. 16 Australian decision to renege on its contract to buy 12 attack submarines from France.

"We had built a trusting relationship. Now that trust has been betrayed," Le Drian added. "Such a unilateral, brutal and unforeseeable decision strongly recalls [Donald] Trump," added the minister, who concluded this "deal of the century" while he was defense minister.

L’Australie a mis la France en colère après avoir déchiré un contrat de fourniture de douze sous-marins d’attaque, signé en 2019, au profit d’un partenariat surprise conclu jeudi 16 septembre avec les États-Unis et comprenant la livraison de sous-marins nucléaires.

Un « coup dans le dos ». Par la voix de son ministre des affaires étrangères Jean-Yves Le Drian, la France a déploré jeudi 16 septembre la décision de l’Australie de revenir sur le contrat de fourniture de douze sous-marins d’attaque.

« Nous avions établi avec l’Australie une relation de confiance. Cette confiance est trahie », a ajouté le ministre. « Cette décision unilatérale, brutale, imprévisible, ressemble beaucoup à ce que faisait M. Trump », a lancé Jean-Yves Le Drian, qui avait conclu le « contrat du siècle » sur les sous-marins lorsqu’il était ministre de la défense.

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