EU Foreign Ministers to Discuss Submarine Dispute

European Union foreign ministers are going to discuss later on Monday Australia's scrapping of a submarine order with France.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters in Brussels that the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York.

"We are analysing the impact of the AUKUS announcement and what this impact would be on this schedule," another EU spokesperson said, referring to the planned next round of negotiations with Australia scheduled in October.

AUKUS is a new defence partnership under which the US and the UK will help Australia develop its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

That program means plans are scrapped for France to develop a fleet of 12 diesel-powered submarines for Australia, a move that has angered Paris which has recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington.

In the same vein, the French government announced President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden will discuss the diplomatic crisis triggered by Australia’s cancellation of the submarine contract with Paris.

“President Biden asked to speak to the President of the Republic, and there will be a telephone discussion in the next few days between President Macron and President Biden,” Gabriel Attal told news channel BFM TV.