Saturday, October 8, 2016

Why the contract Caracal turns into a shouting match franco-Polish – Challenges.fr

Thirteen years after the trauma of the choice of the F-16 american by Poland, to the detriment of the Mirage 2000-5, Warsaw has just cause a new diplomatic crisis major with France by cancelling the tender for 50 helicopters military won in April 2015 by Airbus Helicopters. The Elysée palace announced on Friday October the cancellation of the visit of François Hollande in Poland scheduled for 13 October next. The minister of defence Jean-Yves Le Drian has cancelled in the wake of his visit to Warsaw, which was to take place Monday, October 10. “The franco-Polish will be seriously affected, struck a diplomatic source French. It is not a question of reconsideration of a service rendered to France, but of the cancellation of a tender widely won by Airbus.”

The same source has spoken out against the position of the “stowaway” of Poland, the first beneficiary of the european structural funds (more than 85 billion euros over the 2014-2020 period), but that maintains a policy of purchasing military equipment, mainly american. A fist diplomatic unprecedented since the order of 48 F-16 fighter jets to Poland in 2003, just a few days after the announcement of the entry of the countries within the european Union.

3.250 promised jobs

How did we get here ? The competition for 50 helicopters had been won by the Caracal Airbus Helicopters in April 2015, which was grilled politeness to the Black Hawk, the american Sikorsky and AW-149 of the Italian AgustaWestland (now the Leonardo). After testing of the device by the Polish forces in may 2015, which had given satisfaction, the last stage of the discussions was the negotiation of “offsets”, these investments are compensatory (often the transfer of technology and industrial workload), which had become the obliged passage of the contracts of armaments. It is on this precise subject on that the negotiations broke down, assures Warsaw, which affirms that there have not been convinced by the offer from Airbus.

what To do choking the French camp. “The offsets proposed by Airbus have reached levels never seen in the industry, of the order of 100 % of the contract amount, or 2.4 billion euros, ensures a close to the negotiations. And even 124%, as the proposed Airbus included in the calculation of the VAT, which the industrialist would never have seen the color.” The european group was particularly committed to creating 3.250 jobs on-site, are 1.250 direct, with the creation of an assembly plant in Caracal. The engine manufacturer Safran Helicopter Engines, ex-Turbomeca, had also promised an assembly site in Poland for the manufacture of the turbines of the 50 helicopters of the contract. Warsaw had even obtained that the “offsets” are calculated on 70 devices were originally envisaged by the contract, and not on the 50 permanently recorded.

Retaliation to come

For Paris, the real reason for the choice of Polish is so political. The ruling party, the very conservative PiS is in power in the districts that house the factories of the competitors of Airbus, Sikorsky and Leonardo. Conversely, the sites selected by Airbus to locate its factories are in areas held by the opposition, assure-t-on in the French camp. “The Poles have so wanted to push Airbus to the fault, by requiring counterparties that are unacceptable, provides a diplomatic source. The negotiations were quite grotesque : they returned one day to the negotiating table, claiming that all of the offsets traded on the Caracal was valued at zero, and providing a new list of 50 projects to be funded, without any relationship with the helicopter and the defence…” A familiar with the negotiations believes that the case could end up with a command of Black Hawk americans, without any consideration of industrial in Poland.

The blow of the penknife in the contract the risk of leaving traces in the relations franco-Polish. The State wants to particularly weigh with Airbus, who wanted to make the country its “fifth pillar” (along with France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), for the industrial return on its investments planned in Poland. A source of the state also raises the possibility that Airbus ‘ application of financial penalties to Warsaw. In fact, the manufacturer had already launched the production of the first Caracal in Marignane to take the date of the first delivery scheduled in 2017.

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