France suspends security meeting with Britain

The crisis by the defense pact between Great Britain, the United States and Australia, which cancels the order to build 12 conventional submarines in France and replaces them with North American nuclear submarines built in the kingdom , Do not stop.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden they underestimated the reaction of France, which ordered the withdrawal of the ambassadors from Washington and Canberra “for consultations”. A serious decision in diplomacy.

Even if President Biden will meet “in the coming days” with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, this Monday a high-level meeting between France and Great Britain has been canceled consequence of the crisis, which will weaken NATO and force the EU to defend itself.

Florence Parly, the French Minister for the Armed Forces, will not meet with her British counterpart again this week, after her government accused Britain of “accepting some form of vassal “in the United States.

All this amid a dispute over Australia’s decision to cancel a purchase contract for 56 billion euros for 12 French diesel-electric submarines, originally nuclear but modified at the request of Australia.

A relationship crossed by Brexit

James Cleverly, British Foreign Secretary, did not deny that the cancellation was a sign of France’s anger at the deal, acknowledging “ups and downs” in relations.

However, he insisted that the agreement on the submarines “did not concern France”. He added that it was designed to strengthen relations with the United States and Australia, as well as to “ensure that we have jobs in the high-tech manufacturing sector here in the United Kingdom”.

“All bilateral relations are going through periods of tension. It is the inevitability of relations,” he said, continuing: “I have absolutely no doubt that in the end our relationship with France will last. “.

Australia canceled the contract for more sophisticated nuclear-powered submarines from Britain and the United States. This decision angered President Macron. Probably the dispute ends in court.

Australia said it had expressed “deep and serious” concerns over its submarine deal with the French a few months ago.

A vassal state?

Clément Beaune, French Minister for Europe, accused the British of bow down to Washington. “Our British friends told us that they were leaving the EU to create Global Britain. As you can see, it is a return to the American fold and accepting some form of vassal status, ”France’s secretary for Europe told Public Senate, a state television station.

Alok Sharma, Cabinet Office chairman of Cop26, told Times Radio: “I don’t see that we have the status of anyone’s vassal. What we have here is an agreement between three close allies. It is about security in the Indo-Pacific. As far as France is concerned, we will continue to have very close relations with them, in terms of security. by NATO”.

“It’s about ensuring stability and security around the world. Also by working more closely with very, very old advocacy partners. The relationship with France. . . As I said, all bilateral relations go through periods of tension. It is the inevitability of relationships as they are. “

Back turned, swords to France

Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, rejected claims French officials that Canberra had concealed its intention to abandon the contract, saying its government had expressed concerns about the capacity of the Attack-class submarines, which the French naval group contracted in 2016 to build.

“I think they would have had every reason to know that we had deep and serious concerns about the ability of the Attack-class submarine to provide it was not going to satisfy our interests strategic. We made it clear that we would make a decision based on our strategic national interest, ”said Morrison.

Australia, Britain and the United States have formed a security alliance, AUKUS, under which the UK and US will make their nuclear submarine technology available to Australia, which intends to build eight ships. The agreement was concluded in the middle of the G7 in Cornwall, where Macron was present, behind him.

This led Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, to say: “There have been lies, duplicity, a great breach of trust and contempt”, denounced the French Minister of Foreign Affairs who was the Minister of Defense who negotiated the agreement under François Hollande’s government.

Liz Truss, the new British Chancellor, assured that the agreement “shows our willingness to persist in defending our interests and contesting unfair practices and evil acts”, considered a reference to China.

France too is in dispute with Switzerland, after the Swiss opted for buy F-35 fighters in the United Statess instead of the French Rafale. Macron reportedly canceled a meeting with President Parmelin, scheduled for November.

“Entente cordiale” in crisis

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Macron did not have to “worry” about the security pact. Johnson said that “our love for France is unstoppable” and that there was always a “cordial understanding”.

“We are very, very proud of our relationship with France and it is of great importance for this country,” he added.

Not only was the deal a clear political coup for Boris Johnson, giving real content to his post-Brexit vision of a global Britain, but it was a humiliation for President Macron, including the government I had no idea of ​​the pact.

Macron’s depth of anger was underscored by his decision to take the unprecedented step of calling France’s ambassadors to the United States and Australia. His government has also verbally lashed out, calling the deal a “betrayal” and calling Britain a “vassal state”.

France is a major ally of NATO, one of the alliance’s biggest contributors, and has taken the lead in combat missions against Islamist terrorists operating in the Sahel who pose a direct threat to Europe, including Britain. As recently as last week, French forces killed the leader of the Islamic State in the Sahara.

NATO’s future

NATO was already under pressure to mismanagement of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan. Their cohesion had been further questioned by the frequent weakening of former President Trump’s allies, although a welcome side effect of his criticism was an increase in members’ military spending.

Macron himself had contributed to the unraveling of alliances by claiming that NATO was “brain dead” and repeated demands for European “strategic autonomy”.

To bridge the gap between the two, it is essential that this episode does not lead to a further deterioration in relations between Britain and France. They are already at their lowest in recent memory, with the two governments at odds over post-Brexit border controls, migrants in the Channel and the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Great Britain and France are the two main military powers in Europe, with common strategic interests in a neighborhood in which the United States has indicated that clearly losing interest. One way for both sides to build a more secure relationship would be for Johnson to accept an EU offer for a new post-Brexit security and defense pact.

As the EU’s main strategic player in the Indo-Pacific region, France has an important role to play, although it has at times rejected the United States’ hard-line approach to China.

The diplomatically smart move would be for the UKUS partners extend the new alliance to France and, in fact, to Canada, his intelligence partner, also despised in the affair.

Paris, correspondent

ap