It is a fusion that generates apprehensions. The CGT warned on Tuesday against the “monopoly” that a merger of the satellite activities of Airbus, Thales and Leonardo would create, and warned that current job cuts “jeopardize the maintenance of skills.” Airbus and Thales, based in France, and Leonardo, in Italy, are currently in talks for such a merger, a project called “Bromo”, with the ambition of signing a memorandum of understanding before the end of the year.
This conglomerate, if it ends up being created and authorized by the European Commission, would have a valuation of about 7.5 billion euros according to Leonardo’s boss, which would allow Europe to better compete with the Americans and the Chinese. But for the CGT Métallurgie, this argument is just a “lying pretext”.
He maintained that “European companies are already leaders in geostationary telecommunications satellites, Earth observation, constellations, services to companies and States, space exploration, navigation.”
Reduced workforce from early 2024 at Airbus DS and Thales AS
For the CGT, “the true purpose of the Bromo project is to create a monopoly that makes it possible to impose prices and weaken the power of the French space agencies” CNES and the European ESA, as well as “increase the margins and profits of shareholders, to the detriment of the interests of citizens, the public governance of the sector and employment.” The organization also warned that current job reduction plans at Airbus and Thales in satellite subsidiaries “jeopardize the maintenance of capabilities, the ability to execute the numerous contracts already signed and to plan for the future.”
When asked, Airbus declined to comment. As for Thales, it responded that “no agreement has been reached at this time. We continue our work. Any further comment would be premature.”
Source: BFM TV
