Aircraft

By Justin Wastnage in London
The leader of the French opposition party has become the country's highest ranking politician to call for the resignation of Noël Forgeard, co-chief executive of EADS, who has been accused of insider trading by the small shareholders' association APPAC over delays to the A380 airliner

The French parliament was plunged into chaos yesterday after the prime minister Dominique de Villepin and Socialist Party leader François Hollande traded insults over the growing scandal around Forgeard, who is suspected by APPAC of having prior knowledge of this month's series of damaging issues within Airbus before he sold shares in April. The association, which represents all shareholdings smaller than 5%, filed a legal complaint alleging insider trading by all the EADS executives including Forgeard that exercised share options and sold stock prior to the news of the production delays. The news of the delay caused share prices to fall by one-third.
Hollande called for the resignation both of Villepin and Forgeard after the prime minister had promised to "sort out" the crisis. He later clarified his position to say Forgeard should step down to allow the insider trading allegations to be examined further.
Villepin accused Hollande of being a coward in response to calls the Socialist made earlier this week accusing the government of buckling under political pressure in its dealings with EADS. Hollande says the government is afraid to tackle the serious issues at the heart of the company that is a badge of national pride. Villepin says the issue is complex and should not be subject to "cheap shots" or "acts of cowardice". This attack led to the Socialist bloc walking out the Assemblée Nationale in Paris yesterday.

Villepin, a possible candidate to replace Jacques Chirac as president of the French Republic in elections next year, is keen to stamp his authority over his conservative UMP party and had promised to resolve a series of industrial and financial scandals engulfing France this year.