French defence contractor Naval Group is preparing to send Australia a bill after a NZ$93 billion contract was sunk by a secret deal between Canberra, Washington and London to share technology on nuclear-powered submarines and formed Aukus, a new three-nation defence alliance.
Naval Group chief executive Pierre Eric Pommellet told France's Le Figaro newspaper in an article published on Wednesday that a bill would be sent to Canberra in the coming weeks. Australia had agreed in 2016 to buy 12 diesel-powered submarines from the French, and the break fee – on top of the more than a billion dollars reportedly spent during the design phase – could be substantial.
Pommellet said Australia had told his company, which is majority owned by the French taxpayer, to go ahead with a new phase of the programme on the morning last week that the contract was terminated.
“We were in shock. This decision was announced to us without any notice,” he told the newspaper. “Very few companies have experienced such a [brutal] scenario.”
Naval Group would bill the Australians for current and future costs related to infrastructure and redeploying employees, Pommellet said, adding that Canberra had asked for a detailed breakdown of costs.
“Australia terminated the contract [on its own accord], which means that we are not at fault.”
Canberra told Naval Group on September 15 that a review had been completed, as required by contractual agreements, said a spokeswoman for Australia's defence ministry in an email. “This correspondence did not refer to or authorise commencement of the next phase of the programme, which remained subject to the announcement of decisions by the Australian Government.”
Australia has insisted that Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned French President Emmanuel Macron of problems with the contract during a visit to Paris in June. But there has been an ugly diplomatic rupture, with Macron recalling France's ambassadors to the United States and Australia over what it saw as a “betrayal”.
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Paris did not recall its ambassador to London, sparing Britain from the worst of the fallout partly because French officials saw it as a junior partner in the new defence pact, with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian likening Britain's role to that of a “fifth wheel on the wagon”.
But that didn't stop British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from telling reporters in Washington, in a mash-up of schoolboy French and English, that it was time for Paris to “prenez un grip” (“get a grip”) and “donnez-moi un break” (“give me a break”).
Morrison, who is in the United States for meetings with world leaders, said he has unsuccessfully tried to arrange a conversation with Macron. There has so far been no word on when France may return its envoy to Canberra.
Macron will send France's ambassador to the United States back to Washington next week after he spoke with US President Biden on the phone on Wednesday and agreed to meet in person at the end of October. Macron had been said to want an apology from Biden, but a joint statement following the call stopped short of saying there had been one, The Washington Post reported.
Some British officials believe the French government has kept the public dispute running in an effort to boost compensation for the cancellation of the submarine contract, the Guardian newspaper reported. Relations between the two neighbours have been tense in the aftermath of Brexit and a dispute over how to handle migrants crossing the English Channel that divides Britain and France.
Johnson said he and Biden had been surprised at Paris's unhappiness regarding the new defence pact. "I think everybody has been a bit taken aback by the strength of the French reaction, and we all want to reach out,” he said, adding: “We love the French.”
It is not the first time Johnson has turned to "Franglais" in a news conference. As foreign secretary, he was known for it. He has deployed the “donnez-moi un break” phrase on previous occasions, according to public broadcaster BBC, including over his 2019 decision to “prorogue”, or suspend, Parliament.
