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Germany Wants Quick Solution for EADS

June 22, 2005
https://p.dw.com/p/6osw

The German government wants a quick end to the current power struggle at the helm of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, with German and French interests to be equally represented within the group, a top government official said on Wednesday. "It would be good to solve the personnel issues once and for all," said Bernd Pfaffenbach, state secretary in the economy ministry. "It would make sense for the way to be clear so that we can move forward." EADS had to hold its own in international competition so a decision was necessary. And he said: "I assume that Germany will be given equal weighting to France" within the management structure of the group. A leadership crisis broke out at EADS earlier this year after the aerospace giant's board of directors postponed at the annual general meeting in Amsterdam the official appointment of Noel Forgeard and Thomas Enders as its new co-CEOs. The French and German shareholders, who each hold 30 percent of EADS, had been unable to agree on the appointment of a successor to Forgeard as head of the Airbus unit and on the national distribution of power within the group.