After a week where the French lost a $90 billion dollar submarine contract, the French government will recall its ambassadors to Australia and the United States.

In a sign the diplomatic relationship is worsening between Australia and the Europe, France will take the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassadors.

It comes as the new defence pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States infuriated French President Emmanuel Macron.

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The unprecedented move comes after Australia tore up a $90 billion contract to buy 12 French submarines and instead buy a fleet of new nuclear-powered subs using technology from the US and United Kingdom.

Jean-Pierre Thebault, the French ambassador to Australia, and Philippe Etienne, the ambassador to the US, will return to France.

GALA DINNER CANCELLED

The French embassy in Washington also cancelled a gala dinner.

“This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on September 15 by Australia and the United States,” the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said in a statement.

“The abandonment of the ocean-class submarine project that had linked Australia to France since 2016, and the announcement of a new partnership with the United States aimed at launching studies on possible future co-operation on nuclear-powered navies constitute unacceptable behaviour between allies and partners – the consequences of which affect the very conception that we have of our alliances, our partnerships and the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe.”

FRENCH FURY

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called the Australian decision, which effectively canceled a $66 billion agreement to buy 12 French diesel-powered submarines, “unacceptable” and “incomprehensible.”

As for the United States, “this unilateral, sudden and unforeseeable decision very much recalls what Mr. Trump would do,” he said in an interview..

The French Embassy in Washington promptly canceled a Friday night gala commemorating the country’s naval assistance to American forces during the Revolutionary War. In what Paris clearly saw as an added insult, Britain is also part of the U.S.-Australian deal.