France weighing options over Australia sub contract breach - Beaune

France will not quickly set aside its dispute with Australia over the scrapping of a submarine contract and is assessing all options in response, France's European affairs minister Clement Beaune said on Tuesday.

"Our relations are very difficult," Beaune told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU counterparts in Brussels. "We cannot act as if nothing happened. We need to look into all options."

Beaune welcomed support from EU foreign ministers at a meeting late on Monday, stressing that this was an EU matter, rather than just a French problem.