Airbus row clouds Franco-German summit
Source: Reuters
By Noah Barkin BERLIN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany and France will try to calm a storm swirling around European plane maker Airbus on Friday when they meet near Berlin for a summit that will also touch on Iran and Middle East peace. A row between Airbus shareholders over the commercial jet firm's new A350 mid-sized plane has delayed a crucial restructuring at the company and rekindled Franco-German tensions that have plagued it for years. German officials said ahead of the regular meeting that Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac were unlikely to delve into the details of the Airbus row, but it will be on their agenda. Thousands of job cuts are looming at Airbus plants in both countries after wiring problems with the firm's flagship A380 superjumbo jet led to costly delays in delivering the plane to airlines and forced Airbus to reassess its production process. A union source told Reuters on Thursday that Airbus chief Louis Gallois was seeking to resolve the dispute with a compromise that would give the Germans more work on the smaller A320 plane in exchange for a bigger French role on the A350. "They will have to deal with the Airbus issue, but it is hard to see them getting very far," said Francois Heisbourg of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research. "It is a hot-wire issue in both countries but more so in France because of looming elections." The meeting, at a newly restored government guest house in Meseberg north of the German capital, is taking place as the 74-year-old Chirac's 12-year hold on power nears an end. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal are locked in a battle to succeed him after two-round elections in April and May. On crucial issues like the revival of the European constitution, Merkel is already looking past Chirac and sounding out officials in Sarkozy and Royal's camps. Areas that Merkel and Chirac are likely to touch on include Iran's nuclear programme and the Middle East peace process, German officials said. The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said on Thursday that Tehran had failed to meet a deadline to suspend enrichment of uranium. The French and German leaders are likely to discuss how to react to the International Atomic Energy Agency's report, including possible new sanctions over concerns Iran wants to produce an atomic bomb. As EU president, Germany hosted a meeting of the "quartet" group of Middle East mediators on Wednesday and both Merkel and her Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will discuss the details of that meeting with the French as Western powers debate how to deal with a new Palestinian unity government. German officials will also be keen to lay out their goals for a March summit in Brussels where the European Union aims to agree on a long-term energy and climate change strategy.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
