SHARE
COPY LINK

ECONOMY

Germany may follow France with aid for Airbus clients

Germany is considering financial aid for clients of aerospace giant Airbus struggling to raise capital from banks, a junior minister told AFP on Tuesday.

Germany may follow France with aid for Airbus clients
Photo: DPA

“We are discussing with the KfW (Germany’s state-owned development bank) and other banks a model to ease financing,” Peter Hintze, state-secretary at the economy ministry to the news agency.

The exact form of the aid has not yet been decided, Hintze said, but would likely be “based on export guarantees.”

Berlin’s announcement follows a decision by France on Monday to order its banks to lend €5 billion ($6.5 billion dollars) to airlines and transport firms to help them pay for European-built planes.

Meanwhile head of parent company EADS, Louis Gallois, encouraged other European countries to do the same, French daily Le Figaro reported on Tuesday.

POLITICS

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

France has vowed to prevent a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc from being signed with its current terms, as the country is rocked by farmer protests.

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

The trade deal, which would include agricultural powers Argentina and Brazil, is among a litany of complaints by farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe who have been blocking roads to demand better conditions for their sector.

They fear it would further depress their produce prices amid increased competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.

READ ALSO Should I cancel my trip to France because of farmers’ protests?

“This Mercosur deal, as it stands, is not good for our farmers. It cannot be signed as is, it won’t be signed as is,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1.

The European Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the conditions to conclude the deal with Mercosur, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, “are not quite there yet”.

The talks, however, are continuing, the commission said.

READ ALSO 5 minutes to understand French farmer protests

President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours”.

The EU and the South American nations have been negotiating since 2000.

The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but a final version still needs to be ratified.

The accord aims to cut import tariffs on – mostly European – industrial and pharmaceutical goods, and on agricultural products.

SHOW COMMENTS