The United Nations: Choosing a full confrontation with the United States due to the loss of Mega contracts for submarines for Australia, France makes risky bets and other countries not rushing to the defense.
After Australia left an agreement for conventional submarines that supported US nuclear-powered people, France took extraordinary steps from attracting its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra for consultation.
Bertrand Badie, a professor of international relations at the PO Institute Science in Paris, said France had placed himself in a position where he could only accommodate or lose his face so the ambassador returned to the United States, historic allies.
“When you experience a crisis like this, you better know where the exit,” he said.
Australia said it had decided that the nuclear submarine was a better choice to ensure the superiority of maritime because it announced a new three-way alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom is widely seen as aimed at China – the increase is the main priority of US President Joe Administration Biden.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has remained calm in public, is set to talk to Biden in the coming days.
But Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has used language that is rarely used among friendly nations, accusing “lying” and “duplicates” and said France “stabbed behind” by Australia.
He has so far not have a meeting scheduled on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week in New York with US Secretary Antony Blinken, he is a French speaker known as his love for Europe.
With a $ 50 billion aus contract ($ 36.5 billion, 31 billion euros) at the signing in 2016, French anger can show a strong country defense industry that political leaders pressure their cases.
But the diplomatic impact was less certain, with France appeared isolated at the beginning of the UN General Assembly.
German EU colleague, who holds next week’s election, almost does not want to be involved.
The government just said it recorded a dispute.
Celia Belin, an expert in a transatlantic relationship at Brookings Institute, said that France could gather fellow European countries around a joint perception that the Biden government did not have a European strategy.
“France needs to share this assessment with a European allies and put it on a table with America to find a solution,” he said.
While most European countries rejoice in seeing Biden defeating Donald Trump, Biden also triggered criticism from European allies for the above withdrawal from Afghanistan, which led to the Taliban victory that quickly occurred after the 10-year war supported by NATO.
The other pain point is the advanced prohibition of Covid-19 in most Europeans from traveling to the United States, even as the European Union – driven by countries depending on tourism entry requirements for Americans.
Max Bergmann, former State Department official at the center of the left tendency for the advancement of America, said Biden needs to take “a brave step to improve relations with France to prevent this from spiral.” He said Biden could invite Macron to the White House, embracing the vision of the French leader about European defense capacity and moving to end the travel ban.
“The danger is that this incident poisoned well and increased transatlantic cooperation in all kinds of critical areas of NATO, technology and trade cooperation and developed an integrated approach to China and Russia,” he said, saying that the alliance benefited from Australia’s security.
Biden also previously disturbed Eastern Europe by releasing most sanctions on Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany who said critics would let Moscow put new pressure on small countries that could be passed.
Biden administration said making a partial decision to ensure a strong relationship with Germany.
“Europe has never been divided into the choice of foreign policy,” Badie said.
Le Drian also did not have a plan to meet individually in New York with his new British partner, Liz Truss, and the French DOVERING MUSTs scheduled this week with British defense ministers.
“They have the right to be angry,” Francois Heisbourg of the foundation based in Paris for strategic research said about France.
“The risk for France is that anger becomes a guide,” he said.
VL-FFF-SCT / MTP