Skip to main content
France - Poland

Hollande calls off Poland visit over helicopter deal

French President Francois Hollande has postponed a visit to Poland next week after Warsaw pulled out of a major deal to buy Airbus military helicopters, his office announced Friday.

President Francois Hollande
President Francois Hollande REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
Advertising

On Tuesday, Poland halted talks with Airbus to buy 50 of its Caracal helicopters, a deal that would have been worth an estimated 3.14 billion euros ($3.51 billion).

Hollande had been due to visit Poland next Thursday but his office said the visit had been put back. Instead, he was sending Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault for talks, said a statement.

A source close to the talks said a visit to Poland by French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian set for next Monday had also been called off.

Poland's development ministry announced late on Tuesday that the differences between the two sides had made a compromise impossible and that there was no point in continuing the talks.

"Poland considers the talks for a deal to be over," it added.

The deal on the table had involved an "offset" element, a commitment for the French to invest in Poland to offset the money spent buying the helicopters.

But the Polish statement said that part of the deal had failed to meet their economic and security needs.
 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.