French President Emmanuel Macron accused Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him about a sunken $66 billion submarine deal that triggered an angry charge of betrayal from Paris.
“I don’t think, I know,” Macron responded to a question about whether he thought Morrison had lied by not disclosing negotiations with the United States and Britain that nixed Australia’s deal with France.
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“We will see what he will deliver,” Macron said about the prospect of rebuilding trust, speaking to Australian reporters Sunday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Italy.
Why the French are so furious at the Biden administration over a derailed submarine deal
The surprise announcement in September of the new three-way security pact AUKUS, which will share nuclear submarine technology, overrode an earlier deal for Australia to buy 12 French diesel-powered submarines. Paris saw it as “a stab in the back.”
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In a bid to smooth over friction with America’s oldest ally, President Biden said Friday in his first face-to-face meeting with Macron since the rift that Washington had been “clumsy” in its handling of the weapons deals, which pushed France to briefly recall its ambassador.
Biden calls handling of defense deal that upset France ‘clumsy’
Australia weighed in on Sunday, rebutting the French president’s remarks. “We didn’t deface the Eiffel Tower. It was a contract,” said Australia’s deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce. “We got out of that contract.”
Morrison, who denied being dishonest and said he had warned Macron the conventional submarines would no longer meet his country’s needs, told reporters in Rome that the two countries had started repairing ties.
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