The countries of the European Union (EU) on Monday brought their “support” to France in the submarine crisis that opposes it to the United States. The 27 foreign ministers met in New York on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly.
It is “a clear support”, indicated the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. According to him, the Europeans considered that the Franco-American dispute over the announcement of an Indo-Pacific alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia was not “a bilateral subject”, but that it “affected” the whole EU. He lamented that this “does not go in the direction of greater cooperation in the Indo-Pacific zone”.
Read also: Faced with Washington’s “betrayal”, Paris is enraged without being able to retaliate
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has, earlier, judged “unacceptable” the way in which Paris was “treated”, in an interview on the American channel CNN.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also denounced a “lack of loyalty” on the part of the United States and pleaded for a strengthening of the “capacity for action” of the EU on the international scene.
A “breach of confidence between allies” for Paris
US President Joe Biden on September 15 announced a new strategic alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom, which torpedoed a large contract for French submarines in Canberra and infuriated Paris, which had been left in the dark.
Shortly before, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, denounced, as he has been doing for several days but this time on American soil, a “brutal” decision, a “lack of consultation” and a “rupture of trust between allies ”. This is akin to “reflexes of an era that we hoped to be over,” he insisted, in a new clear allusion to the era of former US President Donald Trump.
On this subject: The submarine crisis between France and Australia, as well as the United States, escalates
France has recalled its ambassadors in Washington and Canberra in an unprecedented gesture. It had already received the support of EU leaders earlier today.
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