says the release.This new coup de theatre

The crisis of EADS and its Airbus subsidiary since last June has likely peaked yesterday, with the resignation of Christian Streiff and his replacement by Louis Gallois, sixty-two years. At the end of a weekend of rumors and negotiations, the French shareholders (State and Lagardère Group) and Germans (DaimlerChrysler) of the Aviation Group fell agree to accept the resignation of the CEO of European "with immediate effect" the manufacturer's date and assign commands to former boss of the SNCF, which "keeps his duties as Executive Chairman of EADS", says the release.

This new coup de theatre, which occurred three months after the eviction of Noël Forgeard and Gustav Humbert and their replacement by Louis Gallois and Christian Streiff, accompanied by a redistribution of roles at the head of EADS: while the French will exclusively handle Airbus, his German counterpart, Thomas Enders, lead only the all of the other activities: defence, space, helicopters... According to the group, this "evolution of the structures of leadership" does not call into question the application of the "Power 8" prepared by the resigning boss, restructuring plan approved Tuesday last by the Board of Directors and the Minister of economy, Thierry Breton, said yesterday that it must be "implemented without delay."

It is however at the time of the presentation of this plan, on September 29 that had appeared the first strife between the President and CEO of Airbus and its shareholders, vigorously refuted, at the time, by interested parties. Despite the seriousness of the crisis caused by the A380 delays, Christian Streiff had failed to convince its shareholders of the need for a reorganization in depth of the aircraft manufacturer, capable of calling into question the sacrosanct balance Franco.

"Blackmail the resignation."

With unfailing support to the author of the 'Power 8' plan, EADS Executives have so imposed some relaxations, such as the maintenance of the activity of wiring of the A380 in Hamburg and the promise not to no site closures and no dismissal, before giving the green light. But, according to the direction of the group, especially the claim of Christian Streiff want to escape the Thomas Enders guardianship which would have led to the rupture. The CEO of Airbus would have required under penalty of resignation, to decide the appointments and loads distributions without having to refer to the German Co-Chairman, his superior. Moreover, it would have not appreciated the decision to present himself the restructuring plan to the German Minister for the economy, Michael Glos, giving to the passage of the guarantees on the maintenance of the sites. Following what he would have decided to send his resignation letter to Thomas Enders and Louis Gallois last weekend.

The display in the press of the "blackmail to resign," added to the rumor of Christian Streiff nominated for the Presidency of PSA Peugeot Citroën, did the rest. Sentenced by the Germans, who don't want a stand-alone French CEO at the head of Airbus to keep them apart as did Noël Forgeard in his time, the head is also dropped by the French, who see it as an opportunity to finally impose a structure simplified, directly placing the manufacturer under the tutelage of the French co-Chair.

On two occasions in the past, the Government and the Lagardère Group attempted to impose this scheme, in replacement of Philippe Camus by Noël Forgeard in 2005 and at the time of the arrival of Louis Gallois to the co-chairmanship of EADS, last summer. But, each time the Germans refused to alter the Division of roles, insisting on the maintenance of the rule of the "cross reporting", who is French of the different subsidiaries patterns refer to the German Co-Chairman, and German to the French co-Chair. In the end, the departure of Christian Streiff will have at least allowed to initiate an early solution to the governance crisis paralyzing the group, while allowing both parties to feel winning.