France's defence contractor to seek compensation from Australia over AUKUS row

Amid the AUKUS row, the head of the French defence contractor Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommellet said that Australia signed up an "empty promise" by agreeing to the US nuclear-powered submarine deal for which there is no clear delivery date or technology transfer agreement. According to The Guardian, Pommellet said that Australia’s decision to replace the French contract with the AUKUS deal was purely political and it came without warning. The head of the Naval Group added that his company will now be seeking compensation for Canberra’s cancellation of a contract for 12 new Attack-class submarines.

Asserting that the only tangible point of the new nuclear submarine contract is the decision to acquire the nuclear-powered boats, he said: “When, how, with which partners, which technological transfer? No one knows.” He also went on to say that Australia knows what it is losing and what France was committed to building. 

Pommellet added that the Naval Group was given "no warning sign" or the slightest information that it was becoming a “Plan B” for Australia. He even claimed that the talks between Australia, the UK and the US have “undoubtedly” been held in a “very small circle at the highest political level for several months". The decision was announced to the company without any notice, and “with incredible brutality,” Pommellet said. 

Moreover, the head of the Naval Group went on to reject the claims that Australia had given a clear warning that the contract was at risk. In fact, he said that “all lights were green” and “everything was ok” to finish the negotiation and sign a new contract quickly. Pommellet defended the reputation of his company and said that the cost increased after Australia started reassessing its security needs, including a surge in its requirements from 8 to 12 submarines.

Compensation claim to be given to Aus in few weeks 

Pommellet said that the claim for compensation will be given to the Australian government in a few weeks. He added that as an industrialist, the company will assert all of their rights. He termed the Naval Group as the only company in the world which knows how to produce both nuclear and conventional submarines, adding that the Naval Group should have been allowed to bid if Canberra had decided to rewrite the contract specifications. 

Meanwhile, after the announcement of AUKUS, France had openly expressed anger and recalled its ambassadors to the US and Australia. France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had accused Australia and the US of lying over their new trilateral defence pact - AUKUS - that forced Paris to recall its ambassadors and cancel the Washington gala. The anger also led to the end of a long-standing contract between Canberra and Paris and replaced it with a deal between the US, UK and Australia.

(Image: PIXABAY/AP)