EADS and trade unions yesterday called for calm between French and German workers at the Toulouse factory

EADS and trade unions yesterday called for calm between French and German workers at the Toulouse factory. Reuters reports that, in Toulouse, some officials still accuse German executives of discarding French interests at Airbus. In an interview with La Tribune last week, Airbus CEO Thomas Enders strongly denounced the “anti-German paranoia among some French circles”. He said the 2,000 German workers sent to Toulouse to support the A380 assembly line were not an “invasion army”. Previously Louis Gallois had described this German presence as an “issue” because it raised frictions over benefits handed out to German workers sent to Toulouse. The weekly Challenges comments that this debate shows EADS and Airbus are affected by an even more serious problem than the GAO decision or the insider trading case: the persistence of “national pride”. AFP (25/06), Reuters (25/06), Challenges, Sud Ouest (25/06)