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GOVERNMENT KILLS RESEARCH FUNDING

"We won't do everything differently, but many things better", was the motto for the new government when Gerhard Schröder took office last autumn. Today many people in Germany know that a lot is different, but not necessarily better. There is certainly no continuity in government politics. You do not need to be a member of the opposition Christian Democratic Party to find this out.

And it seems to be almost a tradition to say farewell to the aviation research program under our red-green government. The signs were set and tendencies only too obvious at the beginning of the year (cp. leader in the March issue of the FLUG REVUE). It is now official: The Luftfahrtforschungsprogramm (i.e. aviation research program) has been stopped "in cold blood".

So how it was done? The Federal Government simply reduced its share from 50 to 20 per cent, thus deviating significantly from the modus operandi financing the first aviation research program. It furthermore demanded the same share from the German Länder. The share the industry had to put up was thus increased from 50 to 60 per cent. For the German LRI this meant financial support amounting to DM 720 million, and DM 240 million for the Federal Government and the Länder.

Whoever might think that the Länder, currently grappling with their own financial problems, would take this reallocation without a fight must be very naive.

Although we have to see the red-green laymen at work daily, we must not assume that the people in charge of the aerospace budget planning are indeed naive. They knew exactly what they were doing. How else should one otherwise interpret the 1999 budget package drawn up by the Government and the Länder?

At the conference of the Ministers of Finance of the Federal Government and the Länder in mid June, those in charge were in no doubt that the package had to lead to the discontinuation of the aviation research program. After all the Minister of Finance had to make spending cuts. It was unfortunate that the German LRI had already put up its share in total.

It remains a fact that despite positive trends the German Aviation Industry will lose ground, when compared with international competitors which are being continuously supported by their governments.

The Federal Government in effect has killed off the German aerospace industry in total disregard of aerospace's significance as a leading edge sector, which has created numerous spin offs for other areas of technology. We must wait to see how "beneficial" this kind of political signal will be in view of the pending decision on the location for the final assembly of the Mega-Liner Airbus A3XX, for which two German towns, Hamburg-Finkenwerder and Rostock-Laage, are competing.

However, the A3XX has to be built first, and here is another fitting package our Minister of Finance has up his sleeve: If industry cannot create an Airbus SCE (Capital Company) in time, there will be no financial support for the big Airbus.

It remains to be seen how Germany will be able to take its responsibility after this decision, which has a big bearing on the future of the European airliner consortium. In this context it must be said that with the Dasa/CASA merger, the German company holds the biggest share in Airbus.

And by the way, what does Mr. "what's his name", oh yes, Mosdorf (the government's co-ordinator for aerospace affairs) say to all these events? Nothing, he has no say.

From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 9/99