Brussels. September 19. INTERFAX-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday denied French accusations that Canberra misled Paris before announcing the cancellation of a joint contract for the construction of nuclear submarines, Western media reported on Sunday.
"I think they (France - IF) would have had every reason to be aware - we had a deep and serious concern that the capabilities of Attack - class submarines would not meet our strategic interests," Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
"And we made it very clear that we will make a decision (on the contract for the construction of submarines-IF) based on our strategic interests," the prime minister continued.
He added that he understands the disappointment of France in connection with the decision of Canberra, however, Morrison stressed, he does not regret Australia's actions, because "the national Australian interests come first."
Earlier, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said that even before the agreement on the construction of nuclear submarines in Australia in cooperation with the United States and Great Britain, Canberra told Paris about its concerns about the deal on French submarines.
This week, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the creation of a new trilateral security partnership - AUKUS. The first major initiative of AUKUS will be the construction of a nuclear submarine fleet for Australia. This provides for the refusal of Canberra from the contract for the construction of submarines with the French company Naval Group for $90 billion.
At the same time, as reported, French President Emmanuel Macron was not informed about the preparation of the partnership agreement, its details were agreed by the three parties at the June summit of the "big Seven" in Cornwall in the south of England from June 11 to 13. In the British government, the documents relating to the transaction were marked "top secret", their discussions took place in specially protected rooms.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian earlier denied reports that preliminary consultations were held with France before the announcement of the agreement, saying that "this is not true." The allies "do not treat each other with such cruelty, with such unpredictability," the minister said.
After the announcement of the agreement, Paris recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. Le Drian, in an interview with France 2 TV channel, said that this step "shows the strength of today's crisis" between the French government and Washington and Canberra.
Le Drian also pointed out that NATO will have to take into account what happened when the alliance discusses its strategy at the summit scheduled for 2022 in Madrid.
The French Foreign Minister added that when France takes the EU presidency at the beginning of 2022, it will choose the development of an EU security strategy as a priority.
