Looks like the German MOD will have to reword/renegotiate their letter of intent for the additional A400Ms so that they suffer no penalty when, inevitably, they fail to purchase them - and all in 7 days as well! That's going to be an interesting meeting!. .. .Handelsblatt.com:. .. .Defense. .. .A400M Funding Vote Put Back by a Week. .. .HB/sms BERLIN. To address concerns by the opposition and also the junior partner in the governing coalition, Germany's parliamentary budget committee will postpone by one week its decision on funding for the Airbus military transport aircraft, said Peter Struck, parliamentary leader of the governing Social Democratic Party, on Tuesday. . .. .Rezzo Schlauch, parliamentary leader of the Greens, the SDP's junior coalition partner, said the government would over the next few days be presenting supplementary declarations to the relevant application from the Defense Ministry. These would make it possible for Greens to vote in favor of granting the application. Without the support of the Greens, the request will be thrown out. . .. .The Defense Ministry's application – for the freeing up of 5.1 billion euros for the procurement of the first 40 of Germany's consignment of 73 of the A400M transporters – was to be put to the vote by the parliamentary committee on Wednesday. But the three Green budget experts on the committee – including Oswald Metzger, the party's spokesman on budgetary affairs – planned to vote against granting the application, saying they were concerned at certain aspects of the project's funding. . .. .Metzger said if his vote was to be won, Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping would have to amend the letter he signed as a supplement to the procurement contract. . .. .Under the terms of this letter, Germany will face legal claims from its partners in the eight-nation project if it fails to take its full share of 73 of the military transporters. The letter specifies that any reduction in Germany's order will give rise to "economic damage" for which Germany will become liable. . .. .Only part of the cost of the project – a total 5.1 billion euros, the sum that Scharping is now trying to free up – has been approved by parliament. Germany's partners insisted on the supplementary letter because parliamentary approval still had to be sought for some 3.5 billion euros of funding. That sum is to be included in the 2003 budget, whereas the 5.1 billion euros is in the 2001 budget. . .. .The Federal Audit Court has criticized the supplementary letter because it effectively removes the decision-making power from parliament. This view is shared by the three Green budget experts. "What kind of understanding is it of the parliamentary process if the only choice left to parliament is whether to spend billions on aircraft or on meeting claims for damages?" Metzger has asked.. .. .Meanwhile, the leading opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union, takes the view that Scharping has circumvented parliamentary procedure in committing Germany to the A400M. The CDU's parliamentary leader, Friedrich Merz, said on Tuesday that if the parliamentary committee does eventually approve the freeing up of the 5.1 billion euros, his party will lodge a request for an injunction with the Federal Constitutional Court. . .. .The CDU withdrew an earlier request for an injunction after Scharping said that the government would only give a political signal for its 8.6 billion euros order, and it would not make a legally binding commitment. Two days later, he signed the supplementary letter, which many see as constituting just such a legally binding commitment. . .. . . . HANDELSBLATT, Dienstag, 12. März 2002, 21:33 Uhr