Saturday 6 January 2018

Airbus Helicopters demands financial compensation from Poland

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Caracal: Airbus Helicopters demands financial compensation from Poland


By Michel CABIROL  |  03/01/2018, 6:56 

According to the Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Airbus Helicopters sent a letter before Christmas to inform the Polish government of a request for international arbitration concerning the termination of exclusive negotiations between the European manufacturer and Warsaw.

Tom Enders had promised. The boss of Airbus has kept his word more than a year later. According to the Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (DGP), Airbus Helicopters sent a letter before Christmas to inform the Polish government of a request for international arbitration concerning the termination of exclusive negotiations between the European manufacturer and Warsaw . This information has been confirmed at La Tribune. A letter was sent to the Polish Prime Minister and to the Ministries of Defense and Development. Poland had broken off negotiations over the purchase of 50 Caracal multi-role helicopters, a contract valued at 3.14 billion euros.

"We have never been treated like this by a client government as we have been by this government," Tom Enders said in a statement issued by AFP in October 2016. "We are going to ask for compensation," he said, adding that he "feels like he has been on a boat for months under the current Polish government."

Negotiations were launched this summer to settle the friendly dispute between Airbus Helicopters and Warsaw. But, both parties failed to find a compromise. That's why the European manufacturer turned to international arbitration. DGP quotes the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (Sweden) as well as Switzerland. This initiative comes in parallel with a call for tenders for the delivery of eight helicopters for the Polish Special Forces, to which the Caracal constructor is competing. The Airbus Helicopters initiative could also force Warsaw to settle the dispute amicably.

Two interviews feed the prosecution

According to DGP, Airbus Helicopters accuses the Polish government of conducting negotiations without really having the will to conclude them by signing a contract. The manufacturer, who had spent millions in this campaign launched in 2012, would ask for the reimbursement of costs incurred, said DGP. Very clearly, the PiS conservatives never wanted the Caracal manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. This helicopter would have been assembled outside the districts held by the PiS if the European manufacturer had been able to finalize the negotiations.

To justify this accusation, according to DGP, Airbus Helicopters has put forward two articles published by the Polish daily. It is first an interview granted by Antoni Macierewicz before he became Minister of Defense, in which he declares that he is against this agreement. In another interview, Waclaw Berczysnki, a close associate of Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz and a former Boeing employee in the United States, revealed that he had  "killed the Caracals" .

The previous government from the ranks of the Civic Platform (PO)  had selected the Caracal at the initiative of the former Minister of Defense, Tomasz Siemoniak, who had initialed the agreement. It was to come into force once the agreement on technology transfers was signed. Which has never been the case ...

 Translated by Google - Original post: latribune.fr

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