STRASBOURG, France, April 4 (Reuters) - European nations hit by delays to an urgently awaited Airbus military plane will hold talks every 2 weeks to try to resolve a crisis over Europe's top military programme, Turkey's defence minister said on Saturday.
Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul told Reuters after a NATO summit Turkey would not cancel orders for the A400M transporter, echoing comments by his Spanish counterpart and contrasting with recent British and German threats to axe the project.
He said nations were in the 'evaluation stage' as part of their efforts to rescue the project.
Defence ministers from 7 European NATO countries last month agreed a three-month moratorium to decide what to do about the A400M, whose delivery delays of 3-4 years have left gaps in urgently needed airlift capacity in Afghanistan.
'We decided at our last meeting that we are going to have a video conference every 15 days to discuss the last stages and now we are in the evaluation stage,' Gonul said.
The delays threaten billions of euros in penalties for Airbus parent EADS, which wants to negotiate a new contract.
Gonul said nations were discussing the period of any penalty payments with EADS, not just their size.
'We are discusing the penalty period and how can we solve all the problems,' he said.
* Spain keep A400M orders, says project must live
(Reporting by Tim Hepher)Keywords: EADS TURKEY/ (+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.
Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul told Reuters after a NATO summit Turkey would not cancel orders for the A400M transporter, echoing comments by his Spanish counterpart and contrasting with recent British and German threats to axe the project.
He said nations were in the 'evaluation stage' as part of their efforts to rescue the project.
Defence ministers from 7 European NATO countries last month agreed a three-month moratorium to decide what to do about the A400M, whose delivery delays of 3-4 years have left gaps in urgently needed airlift capacity in Afghanistan.
'We decided at our last meeting that we are going to have a video conference every 15 days to discuss the last stages and now we are in the evaluation stage,' Gonul said.
The delays threaten billions of euros in penalties for Airbus parent EADS, which wants to negotiate a new contract.
Gonul said nations were discussing the period of any penalty payments with EADS, not just their size.
'We are discusing the penalty period and how can we solve all the problems,' he said.
* Spain keep A400M orders, says project must live
(Reporting by Tim Hepher)Keywords: EADS TURKEY/ (+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.