French PM doesn't want Airbus jobs going overseas

By Swaha Pattanaik

PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday the government would try to dissuade Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) from its plan to shift jobs outside the euro zone to help it cope with the euro's strength.

"The state as shareholder will do everything to dissuade EADS from delocalising its production," he said in an interview with Les Echos daily.

EADS has said Airbus, which already plans to shed 10,000 jobs and sell factories in Europe, could shift jobs on a large scale to the dollar zone to help reduce currency exposure and compete with rival Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of the United States.

The euro's recent rise to record highs above $1.4960 <EUR=> has eroded the value of euro zone exporters' dollar earnings and made euro-denominated price tags look more expensive to foreign buyers.

"The government is very aware of the problems the euro's level poses for the aeronautical industry. The president (Nicolas Sarkozy) has not stopped sounding the alarm to our partners and the monetary authorities," Fillon said.

"All the same, Airbus will not overcome this difficulty by delocalising. You don't respond to a purely cyclical problem by strategic decisions which commit you in the long term."

Arnaud Lagardere, whose family conglomerate owns 7.5 percent of Europe's largest aerospace group, said on Sunday the plan to move jobs out of the euro zone would not go against EADS' interests and that the French state would not do anything that harms the interests of EADS.

Fillon chose to put a different emphasis: "France and Germany invested heavily in Airbus. It wasn't to see it leave in pieces towards the dollar zone."