09.02.2005, 19:49
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://staging.defensenews.com/story.php?F=624755&C=navwar">http://staging.defensenews.com/story.ph ... 5&C=navwar</a><!-- m -->
Zitat:France Abandons FREMM Private Financing
By PIERRE TRAN, PARIS
France has ditched plans to use private bank financing to buy new frigates and instead will rely on its defense equipment budget, an unexpected decision that may herald spending cuts elsewhere.
“The government has decided to use a budgetary mode of financing for the multimission frigates,” Defense Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie told members of parliament at a Jan. 24 conference. “This decision opens the way for the conclusion of a contract, as expected, in the summer 2005.”
French and Italian industry had wanted to sign a contract for a first batch of 14 Frégate Européene Multi-Mission (FREMM) warships in the spring, or summer at the latest. France is slated to take eight and Italy six ships under the cooperative program.
......