YUP, THAT'LL HELP, MORE GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT...:

To Buy or not to Buy? (Der Spiegel, 10/12/06)

The chaos surrounding Franco-German aerospace giant Airbus -- still reeling from the announcement that it's A380 super jumbo jet would be delayed by two years -- continues to rein. In order to protect its role in the complicated structure of Airbus's parent company, EADS, the German government is considering the purchase of German-held shares from DaimlerChrysler. But conflicting public statements made on Thursday by officials in Hamburg -- which, with over 10,000 workers, is home to Airbus's largest German production plant -- and Berlin suggested that the government isn't on the same page.

"It is certain that the sale will happen," Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said following a meeting with Airbus's new chief Louis Gallois on Thursday. The mayor said details must still be clarified, but he welcomed the "federal government's decision."

Less than a half-hour later, however, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also of the CDU, contradicted the Hamburg mayor, saying the federal government had yet to decide whether to purchase shares in the crisis-plagued concern.

Did Ms Merkel really seek power in order to make the whole country more like East Germany?

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 12, 2006 1:16 PM