EU's Barroso says deal possible with US in plane row
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-20 20:45

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday the European Union and the United States could reach a deal in their row over plane subsidies.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva, where he addressed the World Trade Organisation, Barroso said: "I believe it is possible to reach an amicable agreement ... in the Boeing-Airbus affair."

The two sides missed an April 11 deadline for patching up their differences over alleged illegal state aid to the two companies. Barroso did not say on what basis a future accord could be reached.

Brussels and Washington put aside competing lawsuits at the World Trade Organisation in January, giving themselves three months to reach a deal on stopping billions of dollars in state support received by the aviation titans.

The two sides' failure to meet their deadline had raised the prospect the lawsuits would resume, but both sides have said there is still a window of opportunity for negotiation.

However, the United States has warned it would resume its case against the 25-nation European Union at the WTO if EU member states approved a new round of support for Airbus.

Washington took its case to the WTO first, worried that fresh "launch aid" loans from European Union states for Airbus's latest offering, the A350, could challenge Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner -- a 250-seat long-range airliner.

Airbus, owned by Franco-German-Spanish aerospace firm EADS and Britain's BAE Systems, snatched the crown as the world's largest commercial aircraft manufacturer from Boeing in 2003.

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