Take that, Macron! French President humiliated as Liz Truss outsmarts Paris AGAIN

The French President has courted Athens assiduously in recent months, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis signing a defence contract with Paris last month as Mr Macron tried to shore up ties with his NATO ally. However, Facts4EU suggested Ms Truss, the erstwhile International Trade Secretary who replaced Dominic Raab as Foreign Secretary last month, was poised to go one better.

Report author and Facts4EU spokesman David Evans said: “Far from being ‘isolated Little Britain’, Liz Truss proves again that Global Britain is on the march.”

Ms Truss would today welcome Greek foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, for the signing of a strategic framework memorandum between the United Kingdom and the Hellenic Republic of Greece, Mr Evans explained.

He said: “This agreement will cover foreign policy, defence, and other areas to strengthen bilateral relations between the EU country and Brexit Britain.”

The defence agreement signed with Greece on September 28 came in the wake of the decision by Australia to ditch a contract with French company Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines in favour of the trilateral AUKUS deal with the UK and the United States.

Mr Evans said: ”The new Greek deal with France was primarily an agreement on the purchase of military equipment, which had already been agreed.

”Greece has a long history with France, with its nascent air force over 100 years ago being initially composed of four French aeroplanes.”

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The new Greek deal with Global Britain’s Liz Truss would go much further, however, he predicted.

Mr Evans asked: “Is Liz Truss quietly making Moussaka out of Macron?

“It must sometimes seem to President Macron that each time he does a deal in an effort to boost his ratings ahead of next April’s French presidential elections, Brexit Britain steps in and eclipses him – or at least steals some of his thunder.

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“Today we have the impressive Liz Truss once again opening the UK’s hands of friendship to another EU country.

“As she did in her role as Secretary of State for International Trade, she seems to have stepped seamlessly into the role at the Foreign Office, building relationships and securing strategic advantages for Global Britain.”

No specific details were available at the time Facts4EU uploaded its report, Mr Evans stressed, but said remarks by Mr Dendias clearly indicated the agreement would go further than the one signed with France.

Mr Evans added: “Not only will Monsieur Macron be unimpressed, it is now becoming clear that the EU’s ‘unity and solidarity’ espoused by the Eurocrats in Brussels continues to crumble.

“Today’s deal between the UK and Greece will surely cause some apoplexy in the EU Commission and its ‘European External Action Service’, which is supposed to be coordinating all EU countries behind a common EU defence and security policy.”

Speaking yesterday, Mr Dendias referred to the UK as ”a country which played a key role in the Greek independence, a country with which we fought side by side in two World Wars, a nuclear force and permanent member of the UN Security Council and guarantor force in Cyprus”.

He added: “The agreement is not purely on defence as were the agreements with France, USA and the UAE, but a framework-agreement which will allow the deepening of the Greek relations with a country with which we have long and traditional ties of friendship.”

A statement issued simultaneously by the Greek Foreign Ministry said: “The Minister’s visit to London is the second one within a few months, a fact which underlines the special importance that Greece attaches to the strengthening of traditional ties with the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit era.”

The AUKUS partnership will see Australia construct nuclear submarines with the help of the UK and the US.

Mr Macron, smarting at the loss of a contract worth £56billion, responded by recalling his country’s ambassadors from Washington and Canberra, with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian lashing out at what he terms a “stab in the back”.

Express.co.uk has contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for further details.