In the heated submarine dispute between France, the United States and Australia, the French Naval Group intends to soon submit a “detailed and calculated proposal” to the Australian state regarding the cost of canceling the agreed delivery of submarines.
The company’s boss, Pierre-Eric Palmet, told French newspaper Le Figaro that Australia would receive the invoice “in a few weeks”. “Australia terminated the treaty conveniently, which means we are not to blame,” he said.
“This is a matter that is provided for in the contract and requires payment of our pre-expenses and future costs,” Pamlet told the newspaper. These include, for example, the cost of “monetisation of infrastructure and IT” and “re-evaluation of employees”. Pamlet reiterated: “We will claim our rights.”
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While US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are trying to reconcile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Macron has so far put them on the backburner.
Morrison said during a visit to Washington on Wednesday evening that he had tried calling Macron, but it had “not happened yet”. “We will show patience, we understand your disappointment,” he said, referring to the broken submarine deal between the two countries.
Biden and Macron try to relax
Meanwhile, President Biden and Macron agreed in a “deep consultation” telephone conversation between their governments, as the White House and Elysee Palace announced in a joint statement.
The two governments’ statement said the talks should “create conditions to ensure trust” and propose “concrete measures towards common goals”. The recalled French ambassador to the United States, Philippe tienne, is due to return to Washington next week.
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According to US information, the foreign ministers of both countries also spoke personally on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last Wednesday. Biden and Macron then want to meet in person in Europe at the end of October. In late October, the G20 summit will take place in Rome, the capital of Italy, before the start of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Deep rift between diplomatic partners
The submarine dispute had historically created a deep rift between the two allied nations. The United States, Great Britain and Australia announced an Indo-Pacific alliance last week, which also includes joint construction of nuclear submarines for Australia.
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Because Australia had then broken a long-planned, multi-billion dollar submarine deal with France, Paris was deeply upset. The French government described the failure of the deal as “treason” and temporarily withdrew its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra.
Australia complained that trade with the Naval Group, which is partly owned by the French state, was behind schedule and over budget.
In 2016, Canberra signed a contract to purchase twelve diesel-powered submarines. The deal has been dubbed the “Contract of the Century” and was valued at 50 billion Australian dollars. The contract was later revalued at 56 billion euros.
According to the French Ministry of Defense, the naval group has already completed work on the submarines of 900 million euros. According to the ministry, there was no loss to the company as the work was covered by Australian payments already made. (AFP)
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