Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Why France Is Getting No Sympathy for Its Lost Sub Deal

Why France Is Getting No Sympathy for Its Lost Sub Deal

Its European neighbors have long bristled at Paris’ self-dealing and aggressive sales tactics.
France is fuming over AUKUS—the new tripartite security arrangement that scuttled its contract to build submarines for Australia—but is receiving scarcely any expressions of sympathy from fellow EU member states. That may be because France itself uses some distinctly tough tactics to secure arms exports, and sells to customers others deem unsavory. Yes, Paris considers arms exports essential to its sovereignty, but its friends too are interested in sovereignty, not to mention fair play.

One day after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, President Emanuel Macron of France and his top ministers received a classified intelligence briefing documenting how Saudi Arabia was using French weapons in Yemen. Six months later, with Germany and other European countries having stopped selling arms to the Saudis, Macron dismissed as “populist” calls for France to do the same.

“What’s the link between arms sales and Mr. Khashoggi’s murder? I understand the connection with what’s happening in Yemen, but there is no link with Mr. Khashoggi,” the president said. “That’s pure demagoguery to say, ‘We must stop arms sales.’ It’s got nothing to do with Mr. Khashoggi.”

More than 130,000 Yemenis have already been killed in that country’s ongoing civil war, and more than 16 million don’t have enough to eat. But ordinary Yemenis’ suffering at the hands of the Saudi coalition and the Houthi fighters hasn’t ended French arms exports to Saudi Arabia. In 2018, French arms exports grew by 50 percent; they included a one-billion Euro sale to Saudi Arabia of patrol boats and other equipment. As Reuters noted, one of the tactics used by Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition is to block ports controlled by the rival Houthis.

And last year, when French arms exports slumped dramatically, sales to Saudi Arabia helped keep the French defense industry afloat. The Gulf kingdom bought 704 million Euros’ worth of French arms, more than any other country. And despite last year’s slump, French arms sales rose 44 percent from 2016 and 2020, outperforming all the other top-five arms exporters.

Most countries with significant defense industries rely on exports to keep them going. But France goes about securing exports in an extremely energetic manner that involves not just defense industry executives but politicians all the way up to the President of the Republic. Indeed, even for French arms-makers that are not owned or part-owned by the government, French politicians act as salesmen to other countries and don’t mind outflanking other countries’ companies in the process. To be sure, U.S. and many other countries’ ministers and officials, too, ply their countries’ deadly wares to other leaders. Few, though, do so as energetically as France.

And France, which considers itself a global actor, clearly feels that status justifies unfriendly negotiation tactics at the expense of allied countries. “Arms exports are the business model of our sovereignty,” Defense Minister Florence Parly noted in 2018.

The saga of Switzerland’s planned fighter jet purchase is illustrative. In 2012, the country decided to replace its aging fighter-jet fleet with Saab Gripens. The Swedish aircraft, deemed not to be the highest performer but good value for money, defeated Dassault Rafale—which had struggled to find foreign buyers—and Eurofighter Typhoon. But at the 11th hour, a confidential report sowing doubts regarding the Gripen’s capabilities surfaced and created a media circus. (Oddly, the circulated report was in English, not one of Switzerland’s official languages.) In a subsequent referendum, 52 percent of voters rejected the deal. This year, Switzerland finally reached a new decision—in favor of the F-35.

Then-President François Hollande was a bit more open about the government’s assistance to arms manufacturers than other French politicians have been. At the 2013 Paris Air Show, as Hollande helped Dassault Aviation’s elderly CEO Serge Dassault ascend the steps to an exhibition stand, he quipped that “it’s the state that’s supporting Dassault…as usual”.

The arrangement leaves countries whose politicians don’t use strong-arm tactics to sell arms at a distinct disadvantage. And it doesn’t endear France to its fellow EU member states. Indeed, when it comes to defense equipment, France is distinctly unpopular among EU member states for another reason as well: it is known to systematically use an escape clause in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to give government contracts to French firms. The escape clause, Article 346, allows EU governments to procure from domestic companies rather than putting the contracts to EU-wide tender—but only in cases of essential security interest. It is, however, up to member states themselves to determine what they consider an essential security interest.

France is among the countries that interpret that interest rather liberally. As the European Parliament’s research service noted in a report in October last year, “despite repeated guidance from the European Commission and CJEU17 that Article 346 TFEU should be used only for specific reasons and on a case-by-case basis, in practice many Member States have continued to interpret the provision ‘as a categorical or automatic exclusion of armaments from the application of EU law’.” In other words, these member states use the clause to systematically buy from their defense industries at the expense of other European firms. In 2019, a European Parliament commission issued a report that called on “Member States [to] strictly respect the conditions of applications of exemptions and, in particular, to strictly limit the potentially abusive use of Article 346”. But the abuse continues—and the governments that dutifully put procurement contracts to EU-wide tender lose out.

All this explains why France’s furious reaction to AUKUS has received little sympathy from its allies. Nobody likes to see a friend hurt – but if that friend has a habit of advancing its interest at others’ expense, there’s no love lost. If France wants to shore up support against the United States, the UK, and Australia, it may have to rethink how it treats its friends, including in the key area of defense exports.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
China Criticizes US for Vetoing UN Ceasefire Resolution in Gaza
Saudi Arabia ranks first in UN index for e-government services in MENA
Israel Records 20% Drop In GDP, War In Gaza Is The Reason
Saudi Arabia's FDI Inflows Grow with New International Standards
Venture Capitals Power Up Across MENA Region
PM Modi Announces Opening Of New CBSE Office In Dubai
January Funding for MENA Startups Totals $86.5 Million
Saudi Arabia accelerates digital economy growth through Nvidia partnership
Israel unveils tunnels underneath Gaza City headquarters of UN agency for Palestinian refugees
Israel deploys new military AI in Gaza war
Egypt threatens to suspend key peace treaty if Israel pushes into Gaza border town, officials say
Saudi Arabia Warns Of A "Humanitarian Catastrophe" If Israel Moves On Rafah
US University To Shut Qatar Campus Due To "Heightened Mideast Instability"
Facebook and Instagram Ban Iran's Supreme Leader
Defense Technology Showcase Held in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports rise 2.5% to $6bn in November 2023: GASTAT
Rolls-Royce Executive Encourages Saudi Women to Tap into Their Inner 'Superhero' for Success in Defense Industry
Saudi Arabia launches National Academy of Vehicles and Cars
Saudi Tourism Minister Reveals Plan for 250,000 New Hotel Rooms by 2030
SAR to more than double eastern network passenger capacity with new trains deal
Saudi Arabia Enhances National Defense with New Partnerships
Saudi Aramco Maintains Arab Light Crude Pricing to Asia for March
NEOM Establishes New York Office to Support Investors
Saudi Wealth Fund Draws in Over $25 Billion Worth of Investments in Three Years, Al-Rumayyan Reveals
The Saudi Kingdom's Ultimatum to Israel: A Win-Win Peace with Saudi Arabia and the Arab World, or a Lose-Lose Continued Occupation and Endless Conflict
Biden condemns anti-Arab hate after WSJ opinion piece calls Dearborn ‘jihad capital’
Turkey Releases Seven Hostages Captured by Pro-Gaza Gunman
Arab Parliament Commends Women's Contributions to Societal Development
British and Hungarian Foreign Ministers visited Lebanese leaders to stress the importance of enacting UN Resolution 1701
Yemen's Houthis Say They Targeted British Merchant Vessel In Red Sea
Donald Trump Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for 'Historic' Middle East Policy
US lawmakers approve F-16 jet sale to Turkey following NATO expansion support
Saudi Arabia Climbs 25 Places in World Bank's National Statistics Indicator
Tourism Growth in Saudi Arabia Fuels Advancements in the Hospitality Industry," Says Rotana Official
Houthi Rebels Request Departure of UN Staff from Yemen, Including US and UK Personnel, within a Month
Modi Inaugurates Hindu Temple on Site of Demolished Mosque in India
Over 25,000 Deaths in Gaza Amid Israeli Offensive
Escalating Clashes in Gaza as Israel Distributes Leaflets to Assist in Locating Hostages
Turkey's First Astronaut Set to Launch for International Space Station Today
Head of Palestinian Investment Fund Warns More People May Die of Hunger Than War in Gaza
Palestinian Envoy Criticizes UK for Alleged 'Double Standards' in Policies Toward Israel
Morocco to Lead UN Human Rights Council in 2024
Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats?
Egypt has been identified as the leading military force among Arab nations and ranks 15th globally
The AI Revolution in the Workforce: CEOs at Davos Predict Major Job Cuts in 2024
Iranian Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi Receives Additional Prison Sentence
"Gazans Urge Israeli Forces to Target Hamas in Leaked Audio"
Biden States US and UK Airstrikes on Houthis Were a 'Defensive Action
Large Pro-Palestine Rally in London as Gaza Conflict Hits Day 100
South Africa Urges World Court to Halt Israeli Actions in Gaza
×