Brussels, 13/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - In the columns of German daily Handelsblatt on 13 July, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht says that the European Commission is likely to appeal against “some areas” of the ruling delivered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 30 June on the United States' complaint about subsidies for European aircraft manufacturer Airbus (case DS 316). “We are not happy with the (30 June) ruling because it gives a very one-sided picture. It now looks as if only Airbus broke WTO rules. This is a ruling that we will in all probability appeal in some areas,” he says. In the report by the dispute settlement body panel on DS 316, the WTO takes the view that some European aid for the development of the A300 range constitutes export subsidies, banned by the WTO.
Despite a qualified ruling - not all the points in the American complaint were upheld and the EU was cleared over the A350 (see EUROPE 10172) - the US administration and plane maker Boeing claimed legal victory on 30 June. The EU was more cautious: “The final report needs to be read together with the forthcoming interim report on subsidies provided in the US to Boeing. Only then will we have a full and more balanced picture of this dispute,” De Gucht commented at the time.
Upset by the WTO decision on 8 July to delay publication of its interim report on the EU complaint over US government subsidies for Boeing (see EUROPE 10178), the trade commissioner does not conceal his annoyance in the columns of Handelsblatt. “Everyone knows that Boeing works in a similar way to Airbus. Instead of financial assistance from the (US) state, they get billion-dollar military or civilian contracts. We expect the WTO to say this in September at the latest,” De Gucht says. He did not baulk at linking the tit-for-tat Airbus/Boeing complaints to the US call for tender to supply the US Air Force with 176 tanker aircraft. This contract is worth over $40 billion and the EU suspects Boeing and the US administration of eliminating European aeronautical group EADS (which includes Airbus) and its North American ally Northrop Grumman, from the race (see EUROPE 10094 and 10178). “Washington is using the WTO panel on Airbus against us politically, for example, in the tanker deal for the US Air Force. That is a problem I would like to discuss with (US Trade Representative) Ron Kirk,” De Gucht says in the German newspaper. (E.H./transl.rt)