In competition with France, the United States offers frigates to Greece

New episode of Franco-American tensions.

The US government on Friday gave the green light to a possible sale to Greece of four frigates, competing with Paris which in September concluded a prior agreement on the sale of three French frigates to the Greek navy.

While French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reached an agreement at the end of September for the supply to Greece of three defense and intervention frigates for some 3 billion euros, the State Department announced in a statement to have pre-approved a plan to sell in Athens four combat frigates and their equipment, worth 6.9 billion dollars.

Less than three months after the agreement reached between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom which torpedoed a mega-contract of French submarines to the Australian Navy, causing an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Washington and Paris , the administration of Joe Biden thus tries again to blow a juicy contract of defense to France.

Read alsoSale of submarines: why Australia tore up the "contract of the century" won by France

Washington also approved the modernization of the Greek MEKO-class frigates, for an amount estimated at $ 2.5 billion.

Optional fourth frigate

The statement said that the contract, in both cases, "will be awarded to the winner of an international tender" for the modernization of the Greek navy.

According to the Franco-Greek agreement, announced with great fanfare on September 28 in Paris, three defense and intervention frigates (called Belharra for export) are to be built in France by Naval Group, in Lorient (Morbihan), for be delivered to the Greek Navy in 2025 and 2026.

The prior agreement also covers an optional fourth frigate.

The contract must be signed "by the end of the year", then specified the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.

In addition to the ships, it includes the supply by the missile manufacturer MBDA of their armaments (Aster anti-aircraft missiles, Exocet anti-ship missiles and torpedoes) and support services over three years.

"Blow in the back"

In September, the United States announced a security partnership in the Indo-Pacific zone with Australia and the United Kingdom, including the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra.

Australia had therefore broken a gigantic contract signed with France for the delivery of conventional submarines, angering Paris.

Read alsoSubmarines: from the first flaws to the SMS unveiled, five months of crisis between France and Australia

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced a "blow in the back", comparing Joe Biden's method "to what" his predecessor Donald Trump was doing - an affront to the Democratic president anxious to stand out from the billionaire republican.

France had recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia, and Mr. Biden admitted that the United States could have communicated better with its long-time ally.

At the end of October in Rome, Mr. Biden tried to turn the page on Australian submarines during a reconciliation meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The two heads of state had announced their intention to launch "a strategic dialogue on military trade", in particular on export authorizations.