French Foreign Minister to attend UNGA meeting amid AUKUS submarine deal

On Wednesday, A spokesperson of the Elysee (official residence of the French President) said that France's plan for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has not changed amid the submarine deal between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. She further informed that as per the plan, French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian will represent the country at the UNGA, reported CNN. Earlier, the French government had claimed that Australia deceived it by pulling out of a multibillion-dollar defence pact and instead chose to procure nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and the United Kingdom through a new deal. On Friday, September 17, France slammed the US, the UK, and Australia for forming a new Indo-Pacific security alliance, accusing the allies of a "stab in the back." The "AUKUS" collaboration was announced a day earlier by Washington, Canberra, and London, with Australia abandoning a $40 billion French-designed submarine deal with Paris for the purchase of advanced US nuclear-powered submarines.

A CNN report stated that Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday, September 19, said that Canberra cancelled the deal because the conventional submarines it ordered from France would not have helped in achieving its strategic goals. It should be mentioned here that France had also recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington after Australia withdrew out of a multi-billion dollar deal to acquire French submarines. Meanwhile, France's European Union partners decided on Tuesday to put the country's simmering conflict over the AUKUS deal at the top of the bloc's political agenda, including at an EU summit which is scheduled next month, reported The Associated Press (AP). 

EU calls for strengthening its strategic autonomy

Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice-President, stated that the chaotic US troop pullout from Afghanistan as well as the surprise Australian security arrangement involving the US are indicators that the European Union's 27-nation bloc needs to "focus more on its strategic autonomy." Meanwhile, Clement Beaune, France's European Affairs Minister, said that he would push other EU countries to consider delaying the bloc's trade talks with Australia, which have been ongoing since 2018, according to The AP. Following the catastrophe at Kabul airport with the US pullout, Europeans see the previously announced security pact as the second time in weeks that President Joe Biden has focused on an "America First" policy, similar in substance to his predecessor Donald Trump. It is pertinent to mention here that on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, EU Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with the Australian Prime Minister on Tuesday, reported AP.

Image: AP