Aussie PM: Australia to Pay French Naval Group Over $580 Million for AUKUS Sub Deal Fallout
00:50 GMT 11.06.2022 (Updated: 19:28 GMT 03.11.2022)
© AP Photo / Mark BakerAustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gestures during a joint press conference with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, in Sydney, Australia, Friday, June 10, 2022. Ardern is on a two-day visit to Australia.
© AP Photo / Mark Baker
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It was announced in September 2021 that the first major initiative of the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) security alliance would be the delivery of Australia's first nuclear-powered submarine fleet. The trilateral group's decision to construct in Adelaide notably torpedoed a previous $90 billion submarine agreement with a French defense contractor.
The Australian government has agreed to pay France's Naval Group a settlement amount of $580 million (A$830 million) over a submarine contract scrapped by the country in favor of their AUKUS alliance with Washington and London.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared that the settlement amount was "fair and equitable" and, furthermore, forged a pathway for improved relations between Australia and France.
"I intend to have an honest relationship with France–one that is based upon integrity and mutual respect," Albanese during a Saturday news conference.
The Australian PM remained tight-lipped on any further details regarding the agreement and promptly pivoted to attacking his "wasteful" predecessor, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
"Tens of billions of dollars wasted across a range of programs that have resulted of course in–have contributed to–the $1 trillion of debt that the incoming Labor government has inherited," Albanese said.
I’m #LIVE in Sydney with an announcement. Tune in. https://t.co/QgxlKoqink
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) June 11, 2022
The Australian PM clarified to reporters that the agreement was between the new government and Naval Group. Morrison's government did not finalize an agreement with the French defense contractor.
Then-PM Morrisson argued in September 2021 that France should have been well aware of Canberra's "deep and grave" concerns regarding whether the French-made attack submarines from a 2016 agreement would satisfy Australia's "strategic national interest."
Around the same time, France had blasted the "unpredictability" of the Australian government, with then-Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian declaring that such a move forces Paris to reexamine the strength of its alliance with Canberra.
French ambassadors were withdrawn from both Australia and the US over the matter.