STRASBOURG, France, April 4 (Reuters) - Spain said on Saturday it was unwilling to cut orders for the Airbus A400M, despite mounting delivery delays, and said European nations were working flat-out to save the 20 billion euro programme.
Speaking to Reuters after a NATO summit, Defence Minister Carme Chacon rejected the possibility, evoked by Germany earlier in the week, that Europe's largest military programe could fail.
'We are working very hard on a consensus. We have asked for 2 months or more to have a new consensus on a redefinition of the programe,' she said.
'We are prepared for everything in order to be able to save the programme. So that is what we are fighting for.'
Planemaker Airbus has said it will be 3-4 years in delivering the transport plane. It faces huge penalties and wats the contract renegitiated to allow more time.
Participating nations have agreed a three-month moratorium pending talks but Britain and Germany have said they might cancel all or part of their share of the 180 plane orders.
Asked whether Spain would follow suit, Chacon said, 'We maintain everything we have in the programme.'
German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Tuesday 7 European nations that ordered the plane were entitled to cancel it and that all of them agreed that abandoning the project was a 'realistic possibility'.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher) Keywords: EADS SPAIN/ (+331 4949 5452 paris.equities@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Speaking to Reuters after a NATO summit, Defence Minister Carme Chacon rejected the possibility, evoked by Germany earlier in the week, that Europe's largest military programe could fail.
'We are working very hard on a consensus. We have asked for 2 months or more to have a new consensus on a redefinition of the programe,' she said.
'We are prepared for everything in order to be able to save the programme. So that is what we are fighting for.'
Planemaker Airbus has said it will be 3-4 years in delivering the transport plane. It faces huge penalties and wats the contract renegitiated to allow more time.
Participating nations have agreed a three-month moratorium pending talks but Britain and Germany have said they might cancel all or part of their share of the 180 plane orders.
Asked whether Spain would follow suit, Chacon said, 'We maintain everything we have in the programme.'
German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Tuesday 7 European nations that ordered the plane were entitled to cancel it and that all of them agreed that abandoning the project was a 'realistic possibility'.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher) Keywords: EADS SPAIN/ (+331 4949 5452 paris.equities@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.