This file photo taken on May 2, 2018 shows French President Emmanuel Macron (2nd left) and then-Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull (3rd left) standing on the deck of HMAS Waller, a Collins-class submarine operated by the Royal Australian Navy, at Garden Island in Sydney.
(LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP)
Australia's new Labor-led government has reached a 555 million euro ($583.58 million) settlement over a controversial decision last year to scrap the French submarine deal, a move Canberra hopes will help repair the rift between the two countries.
Australia last year cancelled a multi-billion-dollar order for submarines with French military shipyard Naval Group and opted instead for an alternative deal with the United States and Britain.
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The move enraged Paris and triggered an unprecedented diplomatic crisis.
Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday in a news conference in Sydney that his government had reached a "fair and equitable" settlement with Naval Group
Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday in a news conference in Sydney that his government had reached a "fair and equitable" settlement with Naval Group.
The cancellation last year of Canberra's order for a new conventional submarine fleet with Naval Group – valued at $40 billion in 2016 and reckoned to cost much more today – came after the previous government signed a trilateral security partnership with the United States and Britain.
The trilateral deal was for a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with US and British technology.
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Albanese said the settlement would allow Australia to move forward in its relationship with France.
"Given the gravity of the challenges that we face both in the region and globally, it is essential that Australia and France once again unite to defend our shared principles and interests," Albanese said in a separate statement.
He added he was looking forward to taking up French President Emmanuel Macron's invitation to visit Paris.