France recalls envoys in U.S. and Australia over submarine deal

France has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia for consultations, in a backlash over a submarine deal.

Australia on Wednesday cancelled a multibillion-dollar deal for conventional French submarines to enter a strategic  Indo-Pacific alliance with the United States and Britain in which it will obtain US nuclear-powered submarines.

Calling the cancellation “unacceptable behaviour”, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on Friday the decision to recall the envoys, on request from President Emmanuel Macron, “is justified by the exceptional seriousness of the announcements” made by Australia and the United States.

A White House official said on Friday that the US regrets France’s decision and will continue to be engaged in the coming days to resolve differences between the two countries.

The recalls from the United States and Australia, key allies of France, are unprecedented.

Earlier on Friday, a top French diplomat spoke of a “crisis” in relations with the US.

The diplomat, who spoke to The Associated Press news agency anonymously in line with customary government practice, said that for Paris “this is a strategic question concerning the very nature of the relationship between Europe and the United States about the Indo-Pacific strategy”.

He would not speculate on the effects the situation would have on France’s relationship with the US.

“There’s a crisis,” he stressed.

(c) Al Jazeera

News.Az

You Might Also Like