Airbus subsidy ruling
EUROPEAN plane builder Airbus yesterday said a final decision in the long-running investigation into allegations of illegal state subsidies could still be years away, despite publication of a report by the World Trade Organisation.
The WTO issued its first ruling on a US complaint against European Union subsidies to Airbus, arch-rival to Boeing.
As copies of the confidential report were issued to diplomats from both sides of the Atlantic, an EU spokesman said it was “only half the story”.
He insisted it must be read in conjunction with a report due out within six months on aid to Boeing.
The three-member WTO panel was widely expected to agree with the complaint from Washington that the billions of euros of “launch aid” Airbus received to build the A380 and other top-selling planes broke trade laws.
The Airbus case and a counterclaim by Brussels against Boeing represent the biggest and most commercially significant dispute in WTO history.
Airbus said the report was just one step in a lengthy legal process that could take five years to complete.