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| French President Emmanuel Macron and then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the deck of a Collins-class submarine operated by the Royal Australian Navy in 2018 |
International Military - Last year seemed to be a bleak time for relations between the two countries, France and Australia. In 2021, Australia, United Kingdom and United States of America, formed a joint partnership called the "AUKUS Pact".
The AUKUS Pact will be a forum for the three countries to overcome cyber problems, advanced technology, to defense and security which are full of challenges in the modern era. In addition, the AUKUS Pact is also allegedly an agreement used to reduce China's military influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
After being officially formed, the AUKUS Pact turned out to have broken the relationship between one member, namely Australia and his old friend, France. The rift stems from the intention of Britain and the United States to help Australia acquire nuclear-tech submarines.
Getting this assistance, Australia certainly will not refuse. Because if it manages to have it, Australia, which was then under the leadership of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, will be the seventh country to have this exclusive weapon.
Quoted from Inews.co.uk, so far only the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, and India have nuclear-powered submarines. In order to acquire nuclear-powered British and US-given submarines, Australia canceled a $66 billion contract with France to develop 12 conventionally powered attack submarines.
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France was outraged that this was being done unilaterally by Australia and loudly called this a "treason." French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France would continue to demand compensation from Australia for breaches of the submarine contract.
"The submarine problem is not over for me. The Australians may have lost more than I think. The Australians are in breach of contract and we will work to ensure that our contest will be replaced," Le Drian said on RTL radio as quoted by the Eurasia Times.
A year on after the betrayal that made France sick that day, Australia is now making amends. Australia ready to pay €550m fine for dumping French submarine.
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On June 11, 2022, a surprising news came from the Prime Minister of Australia who had just been sworn in to replace Morrison, Anthony Albanese. Albanese is indebted to manage Australia's strained relations with France over last year's non-nuclear submarine contract by paying the Naval Group a fine of €550m or the equivalent of $500 billion.
"This is the fair and equitable thing that can be done. It also follows my discussions with President Emmanuel Macron and I thank him for those discussions. This is a friendly way for us to build better relations between Australia and France," Albanese was quoted as saying. Security.
The French Defense Minister welcomed the settlement agreement which was carried out this Saturday afternoon. "This allows us to turn the page in our bilateral relationship with Australia and look to the future," said Sebastien Lecornu.
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Speaking on the sidelines of the "Shangri-La Dialogue" Security Summit in Singapore, Lecornu said France values "friendship" with Australia. "Just because the Government in the past didn't keep its promises, doesn't mean we should forget about our strategic relationship," said Lecornu.
"Australia has a new leader in power, we are delighted to be working with them." In addition to Australia, the AUKUS Pact also caused France's relations with Britain and the US to be in a bad direction.
France's defense minister last year canceled talks with Britain after the AUKUS Pact was announced. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden had a 30-minute phone call with Macron to improve relations after France withdrew its ambassador from Washington.
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After the payment of this fine, relations between Australia and France will return to harmony and other agreements are waiting to be signed.