Macron seals 1bn deal with Croatia for 12 French fighter jets

RFI
26 Nov 2021, 04:16 GMT+10

French President Emmanuel Macron and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Thursday hailed a freshly signed strategic partnership that includes the 1 billion euro acquisition of 12 French-built Rafale fighter jets by Zagreb.

"It is a sovereign choice, the contract we signed ... it is a historic choice," said Macron. "It will be the cement of a strategic convergence between our two countries and lays the groundwork for the defence of Europe," he added.

Croatia joined Nato in 2009 and became a member of the European Union in 2013, less than 15 years after the end of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

In May, Plenkovic said Croatia would buy the fighter jets in order to modernise its air force.

"These are aircraft that will influence Croatian standing on the international scale and allow us to contribute in the framework of Nato and Croatian defence missions," Plenkovic said.

Mario Banožić, the Croatian defence minister and his French counterpart, Florence Parly, signed the aircraft contracts along with Eric Trappier, the boss of Dassault Aviation, which manufacturs the Rafale.

The first six Rafales will be delivered between autumn 2023 and early 2024. The remaining six will be sent by spring 2025.

Croatia is the third country this year after Greece and Egypt to sign a contract for Rafales.

Originally published on RFI

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Germany Sun.

More Information

5 ℃

null in Berlin

Europe Business

Section

Ireland has 17th highest fuel prices in world, up one-third since 2021

DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland has among the highest prices for petrol and diesel in the world.In the past year, fuel prices ...

Airbus cancels Qatar Airways order for 50 aircraft

PARIS, France: European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has canceled a multi-billion dollar order by Qatar Airways for 50 of its single-aisle ...

Cuba Accused of Violating Human Rights of Foreign Workers

MADRID - Cuban sailors working on luxury cruises are reduced to " 'slaves' who only get paid 20% of their ...

Pakistani blogger Ahmad Waqass Goraya's murder plot trial closes, jury to deliberate on evidence

London [UK], January 28 (ANI): The trial of 31-year-old British-Pakistani man Muhammad Gohir Khan, charged for conspiring to kill Netherlands-based ...