As France ended up losing a multi-billion dollar submarine contract with Australia amid the creation of a new trilateral alliance AUKUS between Washington, London, and Canberra, French Minister of Defence Florence Parly lamented the apparent lack of political dialogue in NATO.
"The behaviour of the United States in the situation with the submarine program is the new illustration of what we have been stating for months — is that there is no political dialogue within the Atlantic alliance," Parly said during a French Senate meeting.
She also argued against the idea of France withdrawing from NATO command structures after some French politicians suggested doing so following the submarine contract fiasco.
"Is it worth slamming the door on NATO? I don't think so," she said.
Last week, Australia unilaterally scrapped a $66 billion contract with French shipbuilders for diesel submarines, in favour of a plan to build submarines at home using American and British nuclear reactor technology.
This development came with the announcement of a new security partnership called AUKUS between Australia, the UK, and US.