France voices concern on EADS-BAE deal Senior French officials have expressed concern over how the proposed "golden share" in a combined EADS-BAE would operate and the potential effect of the deal on the country's defence industry. So far the French government has avoided any detailed public comment on the proposed tie-up between Europe's biggest aerospace and defence companies, ­saying that it would give its verdict "at the appropriate time." But one official involved in the talks said that a key issue was how the golden shares proposed for France, Germany and the UK would operate, signalling that Paris could seek more than a simple right to block ­hostile takeovers, as proposed by EADS. Paris has always jealously guarded the 22.5 per cent stake in EADS that it controls directly and indirectly through Lagardère, the French media group. Berlin wields effective ­control over a similar 22.5 per cent stake in EADS. The current Franco­German EADS shareholder agreement gives Paris an effective veto over the company's strategic decisions and appointments. That is a very important issue for us, among others. The question of the golden share depends on the rights that it includes," the official said. Ministers have also raised the question of how the emergence of a combined EADS-BAE group would affect France's other defence companies, including Dassault and Thales. [The proposed tie-up] is an enormous issue. There are strategic factors involved," one cabinet minister not directly involved in the negotiations but close to François Hollande, the president, told the Financial Times. It has heavy consequences for our other big companies, for example Dassault, if you create this mastodon. Another minister and the senior official said the ­government had not yet finalised its position on the deal. This minister said it would be discussed in the coming days by Pierre ­Moscovici, the finance minister, Arnaud Montebourg, the industry minister, and Jean-Yves Le Drian, minister of defence. Discussions were continuing with EADS, the minister said. Under the tie-up with BAE proposed by Tom ­Enders, EADS chief executive, the UK, French and German governments would have golden shares with which they could block a hostile takeover but there would be no additional veto rights or the ability to nominate board members at the enlarged group. Two people familiar with the discussions between EADS and BAE said the enlarged group could have its headquarters in ­Toulouse, where Mr Enders is based, although they stressed that no final decisions had been made. EADS declined to comment. The comments from French officials came after BAE indicated that it saw Paris as the biggest potential obstacle to a deal. EADS is important to France because of its ­ownership of Airbus, the Toulouse-based commercial aircraft maker. People close to EADS said they believed that the deal had a better chance of winning French government approval under Mr Hollande than it would have had under Nicolas Sarkozy, his predecessor. The latter had close ties to Serge Dassault, chief executive of Dassault group, which owns Le Figaro, the staunchly pro-Sarkozy newspaper that attacked Mr Hollande relentlessly during the presidential election campaign.