Australian leader to visit France to fix damaged relations
By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will meet President Emmanuel Macron in France next week to reset a bilateral relationship that was damaged when the previous Australian government canceled a submarine contract. Albanese said Thursday that Macron had invited him to visit France while he is in Europe to attend a NATO summit in Spain. Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp: “We do need to reset.” France responded with fury when the former Australian government announced in September that it was canceling a 90 billion Australian dollar ($62 billion) contract for conventional diesel-electric submarines. Instead, Australia had struck a deal with the United States and Britain to provide submarines powered with U.S. nuclear technology.