Governments and unions across Europe reacted with dismay on Friday to news that Boeing beat EADS to the euro26bn (US$35bn) US tanker bid to provide 179 new tanker planes for the US Air Force.
EADS, the rival bidder in the contest, a European aircraft consortium which produces the highly successful and technically advanced Airbus aircraft, already had won the bid in 2009, when Boeing contested the awarded contract.
( Picture insert: the Airbus tanker already operational in several countries}
The German government described the decision as a “missed opportunity to deepen the transatlantic partnership”. Peter Hintze, parliamentary state secretary responsible for the aerospace industry at Germany’s economy ministry and a close political ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel noted: "that it left a “bitter taste” about whether the procedure “was conducted with the transparency that the participants could expect.”
In France, home to a large EADS factory in the southern city of Toulouse, trade unions were still reeling from the news, which overturned rumours in previous days that EADS was the favorite to win the contract.
“It’s a disappointment for us because EADS worked hard to introduce a plane that was much better than the Boeing one,” said Jean-Bernard Gaillanou of the CFDT union, which represents EADS employees.
In Britain, the government was equally unhappy at the outcome. “We are disappointed that the EADS North America solution was not selected,” a spokesperson for the Department of Business Innovation and Skills said. “Airbus’ strengths have already generated orders from three other nations for the A330 tanker."
The European Commission also expressed its disappointment.
The question one has to ask is at which point the EU is finally going to figure out that the Atlantic Alliance between the US and the EU only works when the results benefit the US and that they should act accordingly. After all, charity starts at home, also for the EU.
EU-Digest
