Australia’s new government has settled with France’s major naval shipbuilder over its predecessor’s controversial decision last year to scrap a multi-billion-euro submarine deal.
Canberra offered a 555 million euro ($583.58 million) settlement to Naval Group in a deal approved by the French government.
The cancellation of the French deal, in favour of nuclear-powered submarines built by the US and UK, enraged Paris and triggered a diplomatic crisis.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that his government had reached a “fair and equitable” settlement with Naval Group.
The cancellation last year of Canberra’s $40 billion order for a new conventional submarine fleet with Naval Group came after the previous government signed a trilateral security partnership with Washington and London.
Albanese said the settlement would allow Australia to move forward in its relationship with France.
“Given the gravity of the challenges that we face both in the region and globally, it is essential that Australia and France once again unite to defend our shared principles and interests,” Albanese said in a separate statement.
Australia, the US, France and its partners have all expressed concern about China’s growing influence in the Pacific, a region that has traditionally been under their sway.
Their concerns increased after China and the Solomon Islands signed a security pact earlier in the year. “We deeply respect France’s role and active engagement in the Indo-Pacific,” Albanese said.
China objected to both the French and the US-UK submarine deals with Australia.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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