EU foreign ministers will discuss on Monday the reason Australia canceled the 40-billion-dollar submarine deal with France.
The move angered Paris and darkened the free trade talks between Australia and the EU.
“There has been lying, duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt. This will not do,” France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Saturday.
He said that France had never called back its ambassadors from the UU or Australia before, Le Drian added.
He continued, “the move shows the magnitude of the crisis that exists now between our countries.”
A European Commission spokesperson said the meeting will be on the sidelines of the UN’s General Assembly in New York.
Last week, Australia said it would scrap the conventional submarine deal with France.
Alternatively, it struck a deal, namely AUKUS, with the US and the UK to build nuclear-run submarines.
As a gesture of disapproval, France called back its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra.
However, it’s still unclear whether the dispute will have further implications for the next EU-Australian trade talks on October 12.
“We are analyzing the impact of the AUKUS announcement and how it would affect this schedule,” an EC spokesperson said.
Chairman of the European Parliament’s trading committee, Bernd Lange, said, “I guess this will not lead to stopping negotiations and talks with Australia, but they will be much more complicated.”
Lange added that the EU countries’ willingness, especially France, to compromise in trade talks is limited, particularly in agriculture.
The US has pursued relieving France’s anger, which is a NATO ally.
Consequently, the French government said on Sunday that President Macron will have a call with US President Biden in the next few days.
