The US deal with Australia is causing outrage in France.
(Photo: dpa)
Paris The American submarine deal with Australia and the new security pact in the Pacific have led to what is arguably the worst rift between the United States and France since the Iraq war in 2003. At that time, the Americans were foaming because of the French resistance to the military operation, and French fries were simply renamed “Freedom Fries”.
Today a sharp tone from Paris is being used against the USA: The government in Washington is accused of “lying” and “duplicity”, the French even hinting at consequences for NATO cooperation.
The Federal Republic is facing the escalating diplomatic crisis between its two most important partners with a strange apathy. The reactions are at best just above a shrug of the shoulders “Was there what?” In Berlin there seems to be hope that the French would calm down again and settle the conflict with Washington.
Perhaps there is also a certain German tiredness to deal with international and geostrategic issues – which you can see not least in the Bundestag election campaign, where the world practically does not take place outside the German borders.
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France has good reason to be outraged. It is by no means just about the business interests of the national armaments industry, which is losing a billion-dollar contract to build submarines for the Australians to the Americans. Events suggest that Washington betrayed a close ally in an important strategic decision.
EU states pushed aside in terms of security policy
Just imagine if the order for the Australian submarines had gone to Thyssen-Krupp a few years ago instead of the French Naval Group. And the US government would have engineered a deal with Canberra behind the back of the federal government. In Germany, that would have been perceived as a breach of trust.
In addition: The lonely decisions in Washington show how much the EU states are now on the sidelines in terms of security policy – especially when it comes to the Pacific and how to deal with China. France has a clearer view of the geostrategic shifts here.
Paris must, however, be careful not to get lost in spite of justified indignation and ultimately alienate partners in the EU. The French dream of a strategic autonomy for Europe cannot be realized against the USA and NATO.
More: An ice age reigns between France and the USA after a dispute over arms business