“I have now asked our ambassador to return to Canberra with two missions:to help redefine the terms of our relationship with Australia in the future[...] and to defend our interests in the concrete implementation of the Australian decision to end the program for future submarines,” Le Drian said.
Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault was recalled in mid-September amid the fallout from a shock deal for the US and UK to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
The dealsank a $90 billion contract between Australia and France for 12 diesel-powered submarines,which Macron had used as a central plank of his strategy to be a major security partner in the increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.
The US has since conceded the AUKUS announcement was poorly handled and France should have been informed sooner.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is currently visiting Paris in a bid to repair the transatlantic relationship. French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to meet US President Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Rome later this month to discuss the spat.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison previously said Macron has refused to take his calls. On Thursday he said he welcomed the ambassador’s return.