PARIS (Reuters) – Greece signed a deal with France on Tuesday to buy three new frigates as Paris seeks to bounce back from the loss of a big submarine contract with Australia.

In an effort to boost European military autonomy, the presidents of both countries signed a strategic defense and security cooperation agreement.

French President Emmanuel Macron stated that it contributes “to European security”, to strengthening Europe’s strategic sovereignty and autonomy, and so to international peace, security, at a press conference in Paris with Kyriakos Mizotakis, the Greek Prime Minister.

Mitsotakis said to reporters, “This will tie our hands for decades.”

Athens has the option of purchasing a fourth French frigate under the terms of the agreement. This year it has ordered 24 Rafale-built fighter jets from Dassault, becoming the first European Union nation to purchase the plane.

French media claimed that the deal with Greece may be worth as high as $5 billion ($5.86 billion). This will ease some pain for Naval Group which was due to construct submarines as part of the multi-billion dollar deal it lost with Canberra.

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