Spain in bid to move Airbus jobs from UK -sources
PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - Spain and Britain are heading for a clash over the location of hundreds of aviation jobs as European governments complete a bailout for the delayed Airbus A400M military plane, people familiar with the matter said.
Spain is putting increasing pressure on the UK to surrender high-skilled production jobs if it fails to contribute its full share of a 3.5-billion-euro ($4.8 billion) aid package assembled by seven nations to rescue Europe's largest defence project. In a written proposal, Spain has suggested relocating jobs, tools and machinery from Filton, near Bristol, to Spain if the UK weakens its commitment to the troop plane, the sources said.
Technical problems have pushed the heavy airlifter billions of euros over budget and delayed delivery by about four years.
The proposal was put forward as Britain wavered in recent weeks over its share of a top-up package of loans to Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA), to be provided alongside international aid of 2 billion euros to combat cost overruns, the sources said. Britain is expected to take part in a bailout which buyer nations agreed in principle last week, but it has yet to agree on what form the extra financial boost should take.
"The (Spanish) suggestion is as a result of the British not wanting to join in the same type of solution that other buyers have selected," a person familiar with the matter said. The sources, who asked not to be identified, said Spain had aired options including shifting work on the plane's advanced composite wings to Spain if Britain blocked part of the deal.
Under the most sensitive option, Madrid would agree to pay for the cost of transferring the massive jigs, or cradles used to hold the wings in place during production, out of Britain.........