NATO buyer nations to meet on A400M on Feb. 5 - sources

NATO buyer nations to meet on A400M on Feb. 5 - sources

REGIS DUVIGNAU

The meeting was scheduled for mid-November but postponed to February.

Airbus took a writedown of 1.2 billion euros on the program one year ago, warning of "significant risks ahead". The company declined comment on next week's meeting.

It has been in talks with officials from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK about the way forward.

Pan-European purchasing agency OCCAR, which oversees Europe's largest defense project on behalf of the seven core buyer nations, will also participate in the meeting.

Germany, the largest A400M buyer, remains in protracted talks about forming a new coalition government. Berlin has been seen as the buyer most opposed to a new A400M bailout.

Airbus received a 3.5 billion euro bailout from the seven nations in 2010.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Jason Neely)

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