Paris and Berlin abandoned the dual-management structure at EADS aerospace consortium yesterday, putting a Frenchman alone at the helm and two German executives heading the Airbus subsidiary and the EADS supervisory board.
The management shake-up is an attempt to revive the fortunes of the loss-making Franco-German concern which has been forced to delay by two years the introduction of its next-generation superjet, the A380.
The deal came at the end of weeks of backroom brinksmanship and media spin by officials on both sides, anxious to increase their influence in the strategic sector.
"This company will be getting an efficient management structure, a balanced, fair management structure," said German chancellor Angela Merkel at the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France, yesterday.
"EADS finally has a simplified management structure," added French president Nicolas Sarkozy, "The Franco-German axis has very good days ahead of it."
The latest round of corporate musical chairs was hailed as a face-saving compromise on both sides: France cedes control to Germany of the civil aviation subsidiary Airbus in return for greater leeway at EADS, manufacturer of rockets and nuclear weapons systems and jet engines.
German co-chief executive Thomas Enders swaps jobs with current Airbus chief executive Louis Gallois. As a result, Mr Enders will report to Mr Gallois who, in turn, will report to a German supervisory board chairman, Rüdiger Gruber of Daimler, the largest German shareholder.
In five years' time, the roles will be reversed, and Mr Gruber's job will go to Arnaud Lagardere, the largest French shareholder.
Considering the 10,000 possible redundancies facing the troubled company, and the prospect of continued involvement from Paris and Berlin, union leaders were more cautious about the deal. "EADS will remain a political company," said Daniel Friedrich, head of the Airbus branch of the German engineering union IG Metal.
Analysts gave the reshuffle mixed reviews, pointing out that while order books at Airbus were full, its A380 would not arrive until 2013 while archrival Boeing would deliver its Dreamliner jet next year.
