France has been outraged that the new alliance was only reported a few hours before the public announcement was made, and later expressed outrage over Morrison’s decision to leak a private Macron text message after the contract was canceled.
Macron told this headline, “I don’t think so, I know” when asked if he thought Morrison had lied to him in his handling of the problem. Some ministers in his party insisted that France was “betrayed”, “stabbed in the back” and “deceived”. Morrison replied that he had “broad shoulders”, but that he would not take charge of the “sleigh” of Australia’s integrity.
Albanese said the couple would also discuss a free trade agreement with Europe during their meeting would have “more to say” later.
When asked if French companies could trust him after the “betrayal” and “deception” about the submarine contract under the previous coalition government, Albanese said “absolutely.”
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“Everyone should be able to trust me, that’s how I deal with people … that’s how I became prime minister,” he said.
After traveling from Madrid, Albanese met on Thursday with former Finance Minister and current OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann in Paris, with the couple shaking hands warmly in front of the flags representing their member countries.
He then addressed the OECD council and members, including the US, asked him questions about Australia’s action on climate change, Lithuania, Australia’s aid to Ukraine, Japan and international law in the Indo-Pacific.
Albanese also met with OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen