France may intervene over Airbus

The fear is that production delays will push buyers to Airbus' rivals

The French government has said it will "take all necessary steps" to resolve the Airbus production delays that have been blighting its parent company EADS.

These "steps" include a possible revision of the Franco-German pact that prevents state interference in Airbus.

France, which owns a 15% stake in EADS, threatened action after Airbus announced a fresh delay in deliveries of its A380 superjumbo passenger jet.

EADS shares fell 26% on the news, prompting fierce parliamentary debates.

Claims of cowardice

On Wednesday Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin apologised for remarks made in parliament on Tuesday, when he accused the Socialist Party leader, Francois Hollande, of cowardice.

The insult was made after Mr Hollande questioned Mr de Villepin about the management of EADS and led to a walkout by socialist MPs and a suspension of the parliamentary session.

French Finance Minister Thierry Breton has told parliament that he has been in discussions with a leading EADS shareholder about possible changes to the ownership structure of the company and the way Airbus is managed.

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EADS was created in 2000 by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Construcciones Aeronáuticas (CASA) of Spain, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) of Germany.

About one-third of its shares are traded on European stock markets, with the majority of outstanding stock held by major shareholders including Germany's DaimlerChrysler and French media firm Lagardere.

Time for change?

French politicians have suggested changes to the Airbus/EADS relationship since British firm BAE Systems announced it was looking to sell its 20% stake in Airbus.

Press reports have suggested that Airbus management could be merged with that of EADS to streamline decision making.

EADS co-chief executive and former Airbus boss Noel Forgeard is already under scrutiny over share sales he made in the lead up to the latest announcement of production delays. Mr Forgeard has denied any wrongdoing.

According to the accusations, Mr Forgeard earned 2.5m euros ($3.1m; £1.7m) selling EADS shares weeks before it emerged the A380 was facing delays.

Some shareholders have called for an investigation into the timing of the sales and want an explaination as to why there were not told earlier about the problems at Airbus.