BRUSSELS – European allies rallied cautiously around France yesterday after the United States and Australia’s decision to strip Paris of a submarine supply contract, but some warned the dispute should not torpedo trade talks.
German Europe Minister Michael Roth said France’s diplomatic crisis with the US was a “wake-up call for all of us” on the importance of uniting an often divided EU on foreign and security policy.
A furious France has accused the US, Australia, and Britain of working behind its back to negotiate the Aukus defence pact and replace Canberra’s multi-billion-dollar order of French submarines with a US contract.
The show of solidarity from Germany and the EU’s top officials was welcomed by France, which said the breakdown of trust with Washington strengthened the case for Europe to set its own strategic course.
France’s European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune called the row “a European issue” not simply a French one, as he arrived at ministerial talks in Brussels, with the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan in August also a source of irritation among EU members.
“I don’t think France is overreacting and I don’t think France should overreact. But when a situation...is serious, I think it’s also our responsibility to state it very clearly,” he said.
EU Council chief Charles Michel said he had a “frank, direct, and lively exchange on Aukus” with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton warned there was a growing feeling “that something is broken” in Europe’s ties with Washington.
“So it is probably time to pause and reset our EU-US relationship,” he said in a speech in Washington. – AFP, September 22, 2021
