France recalls its ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia to protest submarine deal

Brittany Bernstein
National Review
Fri, 17 Sep 2021 04:38 UTC

© Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

France announced Friday it has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in a demonstration of its displeasure with President Biden's announcement of an agreement to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without consulting French officials. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the decision was made by French President Emmanuel Macron:

"At the request of the President of the Republic, I have decided to immediately recall our two ambassadors to the United States and Australia to Paris for consultations. This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on 15 September by Australia and the United States."

He added that the partnership is an example of

"unacceptable behavior between allies and partners, the consequences of which affect the very conception we have of our alliances, our partnerships and the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe."

Brian Aggeler, the acting U.S. ambassador in Paris, was called to the Foreign Ministry and told that France's representative, Ambassador Philippe Etienne, would be returning home indefinitely for discussions over the U.S. action and the French response.

The deal, which was kept secret from the French until just before the announcement on Wednesday, effectively cancelled a $66 billion Australian agreement to buy diesel-powered French submarines.

France called the deal "unacceptable" and "incomprehensible."

The recall came hours after Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations, tried to minimize the damage to the relationship between the U.S. and France.

"As the president said, we cooperate closely with France on shared priorities both in the Indo-Pacific region and we'll continue to do so here in the Security Council. Good friends have disagreements, but that's the nature of friendship and that's — because you're friends, you can have disagreement and continue to work on those areas of cooperation."

"We will continue to work with our French colleagues on areas of cooperation and address any tensions in our relationship, but we don't see those tensions changing the nature of our friendship."

Comment: US is burning its bridges with each clueless act it can muster - a fitting legacy for Biden.

The French and Indian foreign ministers spoke over the phone on Saturday, vowing to deepen their strategic partnership now that Paris' ties with the US and Australia have been strained by a submarine deal debacle.

France and India will "work on a joint program of concrete actions to defend a truly multilateral international order," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said in a statement on Saturday. Released by the French foreign ministry, it also said the two had discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.

The diplomats have vowed to continue building strategic partnership based on a "relationship of political trust between two great sovereign nations." Le Drian and Jaishankar agreed to meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session next week.

Paris furiously protested the new arrangement between Australia, the US and UK, known as AUKUS. Le Drian called the ditching of French-Australian submarine program "a stab in the back."

See also:
As a furious France plots its revenge for America's treachery on its subs deal, will it take the nuclear option of quitting NATO?