The French Naval Group now wants to send an invoice to Australia after the submarine deal that had collapsed. “Australia terminated the contract out of convenience, which means we are not to blame,” the company’s chief Pierre Eric Pommellet told the French newspaper Le Figaro.
“It is a case that is foreseen in the contract and requires the payment of our already incurred and future costs,” Pommellet told the newspaper. These included, for example, the costs for the “demobilization of the infrastructure and IT” and the “regrouping of employees”. Pommellet reiterated: “We will assert our rights.”
“Treaty of the Century”
Australia had previously complained that business with the Naval Group, which is partially owned by the French state, was years behind schedule and well over budget. In 2016, Canberra signed a contract to buy twelve diesel-powered submarines. The deal has been dubbed the “Contract of the Century” and was valued at A $ 50 billion. The contract was later revalued at 56 billion euros.
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