Submarine litigation: French firm wants to bill Australia for collapsed business
In a heated submarine dispute between France, the United States and Australia, the French naval group intends to submit a “detailed and calculated proposal” to the Australian state on the costs of canceling the agreed delivery of submarines.
The company’s president, Pierre-Eric Baumelet, told France’s Le Figaro newspaper that Australia would receive a bill “in a few weeks”. “Australia terminated the treaty for reasons of facilitation, which means we are not responsible,” he said.
“It is a contract issue and requires payment of costs already incurred and future costs,” Bumiller told the newspaper. These included, for example, the costs of “infrastructure and IT layoffs” and “staff pooling”. “We will assert our rights,” Baumelet repeated.
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As US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron try to get closer, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Macron has so far treated him with a cold.
On a visit to Washington on Wednesday evening, Morrison said he had tried to contact Macron, but “that hasn’t happened yet.” “We will be patient and understand your disappointment,” he said, referring to the failed submarine deal between the two countries.
Biden and Macron are trying to relax
Meanwhile, Presidents Biden and Macron in a phone conversation agreed to “in-depth consultations” between their two governments, the White House and the Elysee, in a joint statement.
The two governments’ declaration said the talks should “create conditions to ensure confidence” and propose “concrete measures to achieve common goals”. The recalled French ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, is expected to return to Washington next week.
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According to American information, the foreign ministers of the two countries spoke personally on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings last Wednesday. Then Biden and Macron want to meet face to face in Europe in late October. At the end of October, the G20 summit will take place in the Italian capital of Rome, before the start of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
Deep disagreement between diplomatic partners
The submarine dispute led to a deep rift between the two historically allied countries. The United States of America, Great Britain and Australia last week announced an Indo-Pacific alliance, which also includes the joint construction of nuclear submarines for Australia.
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Since Australia then violated a long-planned submarine agreement with France worth billions of dollars, Paris has been deeply upset. The French government called the failure of the deal a “treason” and temporarily recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra.
Australia has complained that working with Naval Group, which is partly owned by the French state, has been years behind schedule and budget.
In 2016, Canberra signed a contract to purchase 12 diesel-powered submarines. Dubbed the Century Contract, the deal was valued at A$50 billion. The contract was then revalued to 56 billion euros.
According to the French Ministry of Defense, the naval group has already completed work worth 900 million euros on submarines. However, according to management, the company did not incur any losses because the business was covered by Australian payments that had already been made. (AFP)
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