French President Macron said he wants to settle relations with Australia

The French President urged to focus on the future, and not remember the scandal with the submarines. In 2021, Australia decided to abandon the submarines and replace them with American ones. Then a new bloc was created with the USA and Britain - AUKUS.

French President Emmanuel Macron told new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that he would like to focus on the future in the dialogue between the two countries, and not remember the submarine scandal that occurred in the fall of 2021, Reuters reports.

We are talking about the decision of Australia, which she announced in October last year. Then the country broke the contract with France for the construction of 12 submarines, which caused sharp criticism from Paris. In return, Canberra will receive American nuclear submarines.

In connection with these events, journalists asked Macron before negotiations with the prime minister whether Australia should apologize.

“We will talk about the future, not the past. Premier Albanese is not responsible for what happened in our relations,” the president said.

In the fall of 2021, Australia announced its decision to withdraw from the agreement with the French Naval Group, which was supposed to supply it with 12 submarines worth $66 billion. After that, the country agreed to create an AUKUS partnership in the Indo-Pacific region with the US and UK in the defense sector.

Politico and ABC linked the creation of AUKUS to countries' intention to counter China's military and technological rise and its regional influence, especially in the disputed South China Sea.