Sydney
Emmanuel Macron's scathing response - "
I don't think so, I know
" - to an Australian journalist, who asked him on the sidelines of the G20 in Rome if he thought Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had lied to him on his wish to denounce the
"
contract of the century
"
of submarines signed in 2016 with Naval Group, continues to spill ink on the island-continent. It is true that the same day, a few hours earlier, "Scomo" had already been released by Joe Biden, the American president describing the breach of this contract as "
clumsy
" and "
lacking in grace
".
It would take more for Scott Morrison to make amends. When the submarine case emerged in September, he reaffirmed that he did not have to apologize because he had acted in the national interest, then called on the French government to “
frankly move on
”. But the accusations of lying have visibly hurt, since the very next day, several Australian media published exclusively text messages exchanged between the two heads of state, two days before the announcement of the Anglo-Saxon trilateral partnership Aukus, supposed to prove that ' Emmanuel Macron knew that there was water in the gas ...
"
Should I be waiting for good news or bad news about our shared submarine ambitions?"
"Asks Emmanuel Macron in a message to Scott Morrison. The Australian Prime Minister ended up confirming Wednesday, on the way back to Australia, that he was at the origin of this leak, deeming it "
necessary
". This had been sharply criticized earlier in the day by a close friend of the French president in
Le Parisien,
for whom “
confidence
(with the Australian government, Editor's note)
is totally broken
”. The leak was also criticized by some Australian officials, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Should I be waiting for good news or bad news about our shared submarine ambitions?
Emmanuel Macron in an SMS sent to Scott Morrison, September 13
For his first public speech since his return to Canberra, the French ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thébault, did not go dead hand Wednesday in front of the National Press Club either: “
We have just fallen again. lower in terms of privacy but also in terms of truth and trust; one does not behave like that with personal exchanges between allied leaders. This sends a very bad signal to all the other states: beware, in Australia there will be leaks, and what you say confidentially to your partners will eventually be used against you.
The ambassador suggested that the suspension of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union and Australia was linked to the "
blow in the back
Received by the French, indicating that it had had "
a strong resonance
" with the Twenty-Seven.
But not wishing to insult the future, he added that “
we can rebuild something substantial.
But we are starting from very, very far, unfortunately.
Now we will need more than fine words, or promises of love.
Proof of love is much better ”.
