H225M/EC 725 Cougar
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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