Since French companies don’t have access to the two main global arms markets – the United States and China – they face fierce competition for markets in the Middle East and Asia. That is why voluntarily losing the Russian market, one of the most promising and emerging arms markets in the world, is a silly move on behalf of the French government, Migault told Sputnik France in an exclusive interview.
“We risk regretting this very soon,” the military expert said.
France went against its own idea of economic patriotism, highly regarded during the current economic crisis, by abandoning the Mistral deal. Economic patriotism requires the support of exports and the protection of jobs, but France did the exact opposite by cancelling the arms deal with Russia, Migault said.
The expert added that a number of French companies were interested in the Russian arms market. Some of them were in the process of negotiation, until Paris decided to stop all cooperation with Russia in the arms market. These contracts were for several times the amount of the failed Mistral deal, Migault told Sputnik.
Migault hailed Renzi, who serves to protect the interests of Italian manufacturers regardless of what others in the EU say about it.