EU Appeals WTO Ruling on Airbus Subsidies

Brussels — The European Union (EU) on Thursday appealed a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the EU and its several member states had failed to end illegal subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus.

The European Commission, or the EU’s executive body, said in a statement it disagrees with the WTO conclusion that, “even though most of the subsidies challenged by the US have ended, the EU has not yet fully complied with the previous ruling.”

The WTO panel did not correctly define the elements that would determine whether the loans to Airbus for the A350 XWB model were subsidized, it added.

“Also, the EU considers that the panel made several errors in its assessment of the alleged harm that these subsidies caused to Boeing,” the EU executive arm said.

The EU asked WTO to clarify the fact that the USD22 billion is a reflection of the face value of all repayable loans granted to Airbus and has nothing to do with the actual amount of subsidy.

The WTO said in a 574-page report on Sept. 22 that the EU and its four member states Britain, France, Germany and Spain had failed to comply with an earlier ruling to remove billions of dollars subsidies to Airbus. (PNA/Xinhua) FPV/EBP