The commitment to try to end a bitter row threatening the future of Europe’s largest defense project came on a second day of talks in Berlin with more talks set for next Tuesday.
Papering over differences over who is to blame for massive cost overruns on the troop plane, which soured an opening session on Thursday, the group of NATO nations was expected to issue a joint statement backing efforts to find a compromise.
A source familiar with the position of purchasing countries said the meetings held in Berlin on Thursday and Friday had taken place in a “constructive atmosphere.” He said both sides had agreed to keep negotiating to try to find a solution to funding problems by the end of January. Talks were aimed at establishing a “sound basis for continuing the program,” the source said, adding this would form the basis of a statement likely to be issued on Friday. The A400M aircraft has been derailed by technical problems and soaring costs, sparking testy exchanges between Germany, its biggest projected buyer, and EADS. Other buyers are France, Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.
Germany has rejected calls from EADS for buyers of the heavily delayed plane to absorb 5 billion euros ($7.1 billion) of extra costs, but France and Spain back the idea of support. The pledge to keep talking contrasted with recriminations over an apparent lack of progress on the first day of talks on Thursday, with one source describing negotiations as “tough” and a senior industry official accusing nations of ignoring the aerospace group’s “serious” plight. Airbus parent EADS had described Thursday’s opening round of talks in the German defense ministry as “difficult.”
“Like most European political negotiations, this will probably go right down to the final seconds before there is an agreement. There will be hard negotiations,” a source close to the talks said, referring to the Jan. 31 deadline. Under a compromise proposal, nations could provide support by taking fewer planes for the same budget under a first tranche, which is a way of granting a price increase per plane. New money for other planes would not be needed until 2020. But Germany reiterated on Friday it opposed using two tranches as this would raise costs.
