Translated material
Trip from Paris
The French want to become the bosses of Airbus and EADS
In Germany and France, many thousands of workers at joint aircraft manufacturer Airbus demonstrated against plans to implement the Power8 restructuring program approved by its management. It is expected that about 10 thousand people will be outside the gates of enterprises located both in these two European countries and in a number of other countries. Yesterday's speeches became especially poignant. In France, they covered all Airbus production sites.There is no less debate surrounding Airbus in the political spheres of both countries. As a result of a recent informal meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Jacques Chirac near Berlin regarding the problems of aircraft manufacturers, it seemed that the necessary political compromise had been found that could suit both sides. But now it looks like these high-level German-French talks can be considered empty. At least from Berlin.
As could be understood yesterday from the statements of a number of French politicians, Paris has decided to take a course towards open confrontation with its German partners regarding the future of Airbus. We are talking about such a joint project as double parity German-French management of the parent concern EADS, which includes Airbus. The French do not hide their plans to significantly increase their influence in this most important body.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin spoke quite cautiously on this matter yesterday: the Airbus management system should be simplified. Until now, EADS is managed equally on the German side by Thomas Enders, and on the French side by Louis Gallois . Whether, according to Paris's plans, the new first person of the enterprise will be French or German, the head of government left everyone interested in this to only guess.
French politicians, as follows from their statements, intend to pull the “blanket” over themselves by increasing the share of French capital. French Economy Minister Thierry Breton considers such measures “desirable” in this regard. “If the concern considers this necessary, then we are ready to increase the share of our participation,” he said. At the same time, as the Minister of Economy in Paris knows, Germany stated that it was “not ready” to increase the share of its capital. Currently, the French and Germans own equal shares of EADS - 22.5% each, directly or through other companies.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy went further than other French politicians in the severity of his demands. He demands a “new shareholders’ pact” in which the French state would be much better represented than it is now. The minister demanded: “We must benefit from the crisis by also negotiating with the shareholders an agreement on a new balance of power.”
In Berlin they listen to all this happening in a friendly country with considerable surprise. “We attribute such tones to the election campaign,” German Economics Minister Michael Glos diplomatically commented on the new Parisian rhetoric regarding ways out of the crisis. “Airbus was largely a successful project because it fell equally on the shoulders of Germany and France,” he said yesterday, commenting on the opinions of his French colleagues. “We would like to preserve this community.” Minister Glos believes that changing the current principles and management structures of Airbus makes no sense.