British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday eased a diplomatic rift with Paris over a new security deal with Australia and the US, saying his country’s “love of France is unwavering”.
Speaking to reporters while on a flight to New York, Johnson stressed that Britain and France have “very friendly relations”, which he described as “of great importance”.
Australia’s respective decision to tear down the security agreement, and a multi-billion dollar deal for French submarines in favor of American nuclear-powered ships, sparked outrage in Paris, with President Emmanuel Macron in Canberra and Washington in France in an unprecedented move. The ambassadors were recalled.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said over the weekend that Britain was a “third wheel” in the matter, and accused London of “constant opportunism”.
France has canceled a meeting scheduled for this week between its Defense Minister Florence Parly and his British counterpart Ben Wallace, a source in his ministry told AFP on Sunday.
But on the plane, Johnson downplayed France’s concerns.
He added that the agreement, dubbed AUKUS, was “by no means zero-sum, it is not for exclusion”.
“It’s not something that anyone needs to worry about and especially not our French friends,” he said.
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