Paris, Feb 21: Airbus faced growing paralysis on Tuesday over plans to axe thousands of jobs as French and German politicians quarreled over the cuts and Berlin dampened hopes of a quick solution at a bilateral summit this week.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said he had talked with Chancellor Angela Merkel about the problems at Airbus and endorsed press reports it wants to cut 10,000 jobs.
He also confirmed on RTL radio that Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac would discuss the problems at a summit meeting on Friday, as reported by a news agency on Monday.
But Germany said the two leaders would not take any concrete decisions that were best left to Airbus management.
Friday's meeting in Berlin is a Franco-German summit, "not an Airbus summit," government spokesman Thomas Steg said at a regular government news conference in Berlin.
He also dismissed the widespread media tally of 10,000 job cuts, apparently confirmed by Villepin, as speculation.
Airbus on Monday postponed its announcement on job cuts planned for Tuesday, saying European nations could not agree how to share the work on its next aircraft, the wide-body A350.
The cost-cutting plans were originally triggered by delays in the company's A380 superjumbo, which drove Airbus into loss last year and bled cash from EADS.
Analysts said the restructuring would also shape the company's long-term future as it chooses an A350 assembly site.
The plane is needed to help the European planemaker catch up with rival Boeing which seized top spot in the global aircraft market last year for the first time in five years.
French and German newspapers said board members loyal to key German shareholder DaimlerChrysler had vetoed the plans drawn up Airbus management. DaimlerChrysler declined comment.
Le Figaro talked of a Franco-German "divorce" while Le Monde said Airbus was paralyzed by the "egotism of Paris and Berlin."
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 00:00