Turning the dream of a pan-European aerospace industry into reality was always going to require sensitive handling. Moves to consolidate started badly this week, as the decision by General Electric to opt for British Aerospace (BAe) and a Britain-first policy in its GBP7.7 billion (about HK$98.9 billion) sale of Marconi Electronic Systems left several other European players smarting.
In particular, France's Thomson-CSF will be concerned Britain's isolationist tendencies appear to have taken precedence over its bid for Marconi. On Tuesday, it was made clear it thought the deal unhelpful to the drive to restructure the European defence industry, and was aimed at boosting Britain's defence industry competitiveness, at the expense of Europe.
The French Government also is thought to have been disappointed, because it has been pushing for almost a year the creation of a pan-European company, able to compete with industry leaders in the United States such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Last year, it announced plans to privatise Aerospatiale and merge it with Matra Haute Technologies, the defence arm of French conglomerate Lagadere.
Similarly in Germany, there has been thinly veiled irritation at the BAe-Marconi merger.
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) has long been in detailed discussions over its own potential merger with BAe, and believes that company's purchase of Marconi makes a deal impossible for now.
