The announcement of a strategic partnership between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, to the detriment of a French submarine contract concluded with Canberra, testifies to a "
non-existent political dialogue within the "Atlantic alliance
", ruled Wednesday the French Minister of the Armed Forces, while assuring that Paris intended to remain within NATO. "
The attitude of the United States towards the submarine program is a further illustration of the observation that we have been making for months: today, political dialogue is non-existent within the Atlantic alliance
", a she lamented during a questioning session in the Senate, also citing "
the precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, in an uncoordinated manner
".
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Several political opponents of President Emmanuel Macron have called for the end of the integrated command of NATO, an organization that the French president had strongly criticized by saying that it was in a state of "
brain death
". “
Is it worth slamming the door to NATO? I don't believe so,
”she added. However, "
the raison d'être of NATO is not the confrontation with China, it is transatlantic security
", and the "
revision of the strategic concept of the Alliance
" planned for a forthcoming summit in Madrid "
will allow us to clarify it and to do so in line with the European strategic compass to strengthen Europe of defense
". "
To be an ally is not to be hostage to the interests of the other,
”she concluded.
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Australia's decision to cancel a contract to purchase French submarines in favor of US nuclear-powered ships has sparked outrage in Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron, who recalled the French ambassadors to Canberra and Washington in an unprecedented gesture, was due to meet with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
“
It's a breach of trust
” between allies, Florence Parly insisted on Wednesday.
