Germany and France are preparing to hold a high level meeting to address how an overhaul of Airbus will affect jobs in their respective countries. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac are expected to jointly hold talks with the plane maker’s parent company, EADS, near Berlin. The French president had hinted that he would take efforts to resolve the Airbus crisis in a spirit of partnership.
The meeting of the leaders is being held in Germany and both the leaders are extremely keen to minimize the losses in their nation as the decision will have serious implications on the workers of Airbus, which has in turn took the shape of a political issue. According to Reuters news agency, Airbus chief Louis Gallois has drawn up a compromise to break the deadlock over job cuts.
On Tuesday, German government spokesman Thomas Steg had insisted that no decisions was taken as part of the ‘Power 8′ restructuring plan put forward by Airbus head Louis Gallois. The official version reflects that German government is of the view that management should be left to take the decisions on where the cuts would fall which certainly contradicts the visibly evident political discomfort.
Politicians in both France and Germany are finding themselves in tight spot as they find it difficult to move away from the prevalent impulse to safeguard employment. Further, the forthcoming presidential elections France and Angela’s Merkel’s precarious coalition government are struggling hard to cope up with health care and labor market changes. In the meanwhile, analysts argued that the longer Airbus managers are forced to delay, the more difficult it will be for the company to bounce back.
