‘Something is broken’ in the US-EU alliance: EU commissioner

Tensions between European leaders and the United States have risen after President Joe Biden “stabbed France in the back” and joined a multibillion-dollar nuclear submarine deal with Australia, with an EU official saying “something is broken” in the transatlantic alliance. .

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in an interview with CNN on Monday that “there is a break in our relations in Europe and the United States.”

He warned that there had been a “growing feeling” in Europe over the past few weeks and that there had been a “lack of trust and trust between the allies”.

“I am here again to make sure that we restore this partnership, even if in some areas we may have to pause and reset it,” he added.

US President Joe Biden has called for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to ease tensions.

However, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that he would not speak to Macron at the UN this week.

“It’s not an opportunity right now. I’m sure that opportunity will come with time. But right now I understand the disappointment,” Morrison said.

France has accused Biden of stabbing himself in the back and acting like his predecessor, Donald Trump, after the Biden administration pushed Paris aside and signed a lucrative nuclear deal with Australia for submarines.

Last week, the United States, Britain and Australia established a security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region to protect their what they called common interests and help Australia acquire US nuclear submarines and cancel a submarine deal designed by France for 40 billion dollars.

Under the new partnership, known as AUKUS, the three countries agreed to strengthen the development of joint capabilities and technology sharing and to promote deeper integration of science, technology, technology, industrial bases and security and defense supply chains. .

“This brutal, one-sided and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr Trump has done before,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told radio franceinfo. “I am angry and bitter. This is not done between the allies.”

Australia had selected French shipbuilder Naval Group in 2016 to build a new $ 40 billion submarine fleet to replace its more than 20-year-old Collins submarines.

Meanwhile, China is also reacting to the new so-called A security alliance declared by the United States, Britain and Australia, which aims to address security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region, calling on the three countries to shake off the Cold War mentality.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengu, made the comments Thursday after the security pact was signed a day earlier amid China’s growing influence over the strategically vital region.

Countries “should not build exclusionary blocs that target or harm the interests of third countries. In particular, they should shake off their Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices,” Liu said.