A frustrated millionaire business: Why are Australia-France relations at their worst?

On the one hand, accusations are launched of having lied and disrupted a millionaire agreement signed five years ago. On the other, they respond that the decision had been anticipated but they never responded to their calls. The truth is Australia and France they have reached the greatest point of tension in their history in their bilateral relations.

To understand the current skirmish between Paris and Canberra, let’s go back to 2016. Emmanuel Macron had already reached the French presidency, while Malcolm Turnbull held the office of Prime Minister in Australia.

Both leaders agreed to purchase 12 submarines to be built by the French Naval Group for the Australian Navy. The contract, which suffered several delays in these years, was valued at 65,997 million dollars.

However, on September 15, when the governments of Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom announced the creation of the AUKUS defense pact (for the acronym in English of the three countries) to face the advance of China through the Indo-Pacific, in Paris the news fell like a bucket of cold water.

The following day, Australia announced that as part of the agreement it would access US military technology with which it could develop its own nuclear submarines, of which it hopes to produce at least a dozen in the next few years.

This, in turn, implied the cancellation of the contract signed with France, but according to the current Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the French country “remains an incredibly important partner in the Pacific”.

Naval Group was the first to express its “disappointment”For the cancellation of the contract. The Macron government, for its part, described the pact as a “back stab“And he summoned the ambassadors of both countries to speak on the subject, which they referred to as”exceptional gravity”.

“I DON’T BELIEVE, I KNOW“WHAT LIED TO ME

Last weekend the G-20 summit was held in Rome, an ideal setting for France, the United States and Australia to seek to iron out the rough edges that the AUKUS pact had raised.

The Gauls and the Americans succeeded, with statements in which Joe Biden acknowledged the “clumsiness”And how hasty the agreement had been without considering the consequences for France.

Macron accepted the apology and assured that it was the first step to strengthen their relations “with a view to the future.”

What happened with Australia, however, was the opposite.

On Sunday, the day the G-20 closed, Macron was asked by the Australian press if he considered that Morrison had lied to him about the cancellation of the contract for the submarines.

“I don’t think so, I know (that he lied to me)”, Responded the Gallic president.

“I have a lot of respect for your country. I am only saying that when we have respect, you have to be sincere and you have to behave in accordance and coherence with this value.”He added.

“YOU ALREADY KNEW”

During the summit, Morrison had assured that they were on the way to amend bilateral relations. “We have started it, we have spoken several times in the last few days. I’m sure we’ll talk a bit more before I go back to Australia.”It said from Rome.

However, the solution seems increasingly complex between the two countries. On Tuesday, during COP26 in the Welsh city of Glasgow, Morrison referred to Macron’s point.

“I have broad shoulders, I can deal with it (the accusations)Morrison said. “But those insults, I will not allow them on behalf of Australians”.

The prime minister added that he did not seek to turn the impasse into a personal conflict and that he had told Macron, during a visit in June, that they were not satisfied with the submarines they would receive.

FILTERED MESSAGES

But as if it were a roller coaster, a new incident seems to remove the options to reduce tensions. On Monday night, the Australian Financial Review published a series of messages between Macron and Morrison that were leaked by a senior Australian government official.

According to the Australian outlet, Macron told Morrison in June that “He does not like to lose“After the prime minister expressed his disagreement with the submarines.

In addition, two days before announcing the cancellation of the contract, Morrison’s office would have tried to contact Macron’s office, from where they replied “Should I expect good or bad news regarding our joint submarine ambitions?”.

Finally, according to the same media, the French president would not have received a call from Morrison a day before the announcement of the AUKUS pact.

From the Elysee Palace the response has been overwhelming. “Trust has been completely broken”, Assured a Macron adviser to the French newspaper Le Parisien.

“Showing a private text message between two heads of state or government is an unconventional and crude tactic”He added. “It is not your typical thing to do to improve relations between France and Australia.”.