Blinken met with Macron to try to resolve crisis after submarine sale deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reflected on the serious diplomatic crisis with France to estimate the sale of 12 submarines in Australia and noted that they could have “communicated better” the operation.

“We could have, we should have done better in terms of communication,” said Blinken, in an interview broadcast this March on France 2.

The US Secretary of State, who traveled to Paris to chair a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), these words after having met today his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and with the French President, Emmanuel Macron, I find the latter that was not expected. In both meetings, secrecy prevailed and there were no statements to the press.

The fact that Macron was given a lower-ranking senior official signals the French government’s attempt to restore relations with Washington to the right level.

Blinken tried to downplay the crisis that opened in mid-September Australia has decided against all odds to cancel a multi-million dollar contract for the acquisition of 12 conventional submarines from France for the benefit of the United States and the United Kingdom., which offer nuclear propulsion technology.

The Secretary of State explained that today’s meetings respond to what was agreed by Macron and United States President Joe Biden last September to smooth things over.

“I cannot speak for President Macron, but for our part, we believe that there is a great opportunity within the framework established by the two presidents to deepen cooperation and coordination “Blinken said.

Macron had a “long” and “face-to-face” conversation with Blinken, reported the Elysee, which so far has not given details on the content. This meeting between France and the United States implied a new step towards the normalization of their bilateral relations.

A source from the Elysee Palace explained that the objective of the meetings is “to study ways of restoring the bilateral relationship” after France called its ambassador to Washington for consultations for a few days, “and to help restore trust between France and the United States. United States. United”.

The two countries, he added, “They are continuing their coordination work on subjects of common interest, such as EU-NATO cooperation, the Sahel or the Indo-Pacific region.”

Redirect the relationship

According to the US side, Blinken and Macron discussed the next steps in the bilateral relationship and areas of joint cooperation and the next meeting between the presidents of the two countries, State Department spokesman Ned Price explained in a statement.

Blinken’s meetings with Le Drian and Bonne also focused on reconnection, but also on They entered into more concrete questions in the stability of Afghanistan, the fight against jihadism in the Sahel, or in the Indo-Pacific region, price added.

The call for consultations by French ambassadors in the United States and Australia, an unprecedented measure in Paris’s relations with these two countries, It happened two days later after the two and the UK announced a security alliance in the Indo-Pacific region on September 15.

France was considered marginalized by the creation of this alliance, since it has many islands which give it wide territorial waters in both the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, it is therefore very interested in the protection of stability and security in the region.

The Minister Le Drian then called this movement a “backstab”.

The situation has been reoriented with the telephone conversation that Macron had on September 22 with US President Joe Biden, in which it was agreed to take steps to reduce tensions and that the two will meet at the end of October in Europe.

The blow struck at Paris was all the greater since, after having clashed several times in many areas (such as climate change or global taxation) with the previous US administration of Donald Trump, expected a fundamental change with Biden’s arrival at the White House, including the appointment of someone like Blinken to the post of Secretary of State, a good connoisseur of France and who speaks perfect French.

A French diplomatic source assured that Americans take the anger of their ally seriously and do more than just “hug”.

“This crisis brings into play the interests of all Europeans on the functioning of our alliances and the engagement of Europeans in the Indo-Pacific”, according to a French diplomatic source.

With information from EFE and AFP

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