The Italian group FINMECCANICA is negotiating the creation of three joint-ventures with European partners so as to speed-up the restructuring of the European defence and civil aviation industries. Firstly, FUNMECCANICA intends finalising talks with EADS by the end of the year on the creation of a joint-venture combining civil and military programmes and opening up the path for the Italian group to take a 5% stake in AIRBUS for 1 bn euro. Then, the group is in talks with, on the one hand, the French defence group THALES to combine activities in defence and aviation electronics, and, on the other, ALCATEL over cooperation on space systems.