EU defends Airbus aid in US air row
AFP, Brussels
The European Union's executive commission said Wednesday that there was no reason for EU members to give up launch aid to Airbus, in a growing trade war with the US over subsidies to aircraft makers. The reiteration of Brussels' position came after Washington decided to bring the long-simmering dispute to the World Trade Organisation last month, prompting a tit-for-tat action from the EU in return. "There will be no unilateral termination of launch aid" given by EU member states to Airbus, said Claude Veron-Reville, spokeswoman for EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson. She declined to comment on a letter, cited by the Wall Street Journal, in which Airbus' parent company EADS said it was "prepared to terminate the current practice of government supported launch" aid, if the EU and US struck a deal on indirect aid to their rival aircraft makers. "No public statements or letters which we have received (from EADS) have made reference to a commitment to freeze launch aid for the A350," she said. She noted that the EU "considers that the Americans withdrew from negotiation" by deciding to take the case to the WTO.
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