GERMANY: Airbus chief Louis Gallois reassures Hamburg mayor his city is one of one plane maker's "pillars", says does not want "war" between Hamburg and Toulouse

New Airbus chief Louis Gallois on Thursday (October 12) has reassured the mayor of Hamburg, where Airbus has its main German plant, that there would be tough decisions but that he was fully aware o the German city's status as one of the pillars of Airbus. After a meeting with Hamburg mayor Ole von Beust, Gallois told reporters that Hamburg "will stay a pillar in the future," adding "I could say the same in Toulouse." "I know the competition between Hamburg and Toulouse for the last 36 years. Why not have competition? But please, not war, please not war. I'm here to say that to the lord mayor," Gallois said. In Paris, France and Germany pledged support for crisis-hit planemaker Airbus on Thursday and promised to share the burden of restructuring after costly delays to its superjumbo A380 project. At a summit between the French and German governments, German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed that Berlin was considering the option of buying a stake in Airbus parent EADS but said no decision had been made yet. DaimlerChrysler, the world's fifth-largest carmaker, will only reduce its stake in European aerospace and defence group EADS with the consent of the German government, it reaffirmed on Thursday. Hamburg's mayor accused DaimlerChrysler of not being "patriotic." "I know DaimlerChrysler's situation which is not easy," Ole von Beust said. "At the same time I believe during difficult times the industry too has a patriotic duty to get involved with securing the existence of plants and the most patriotic thing would have been not to sell the shares." A spokesman for the company declined to say what the current stance was in ongoing negotiations, but that the company would stick to its already announced plan to reduce its stake by 7.5 percent, bringing its total EADS holding to 15 percent. Daimler has repeatedly said once it reaches that level, it does not plan to sell any more shares in EADS.

ITN Source | October 13, 2006

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