Australian PM hails ‘new start’

TIES: ALBANESE, MACRON MEET AFTER SUBMARINE ROW

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed a “new start” in relations with France as he met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris yesterday, after an acrimonious row between the countries over a submarine contract last year.

“My presence here represents a new start for our countries’ relationship,” Albanese said after arriving at the Elysee Palace.

“Australia’s relationship with France matters. Trust, respect and honesty matter. This is how I will approach my relations.”

Macron said that Albanese’s recent election and the first conversations between the pair “mark a willingness to rebuild a relationship of trust between our two countries, a relationship based on mutual respect”.

After acknowledging “difficult times”, Macron emphasised the two countries’ strategic partnership, their shared war history in Europe and their joint interests in stability in the Pacific region.

The statements, which followed a warm greeting between the two men and their wives in the courtyard of the presidential palace, mark a sea change in ties since the departure of former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.

Macron was left furious last year after Morrison secretly negotiated to buy US-designed submarines and then ditched a landmark submarine contract with France worth Aus$50 billion (about R565 billion) when it was signed in 2016.

France broke off diplomatic contacts with Australia and Macron repeatedly accused Morrison of having lied to him during a dinner they had in Paris in June 2021.

Outgoing French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian applauded Morrison’s election loss in May to Albanese, saying it “suits me fine”.

Morrison’s actions were marked by “brutality and cynicism, and I would even be tempted to say of unequivocal incompetence”, Le Drian said as he handed over to his successor Catherine Colonna on 21 May.

Albanese announced earlier last month that French submarine maker Naval Group had agreed to a “fair and an equitable settlement” of €555 million for Australia ending the decade-old submarine contract.

“It is important that that reset occur,” Albanese told national broadcaster ABC on Friday last week. –