Paris, Amsterdam To Set Up Panel To Transform Air France-KLM - French Finance Minister

Paris and Amsterdam have agreed to set up a special body to boost performance of Air France-KLM holding, the first report is expected by June, French Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2019) Paris and Amsterdam have agreed to set up a special body to boost performance of Air France-KLM holding, the first report is expected by June, French Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said Friday.

The Netherlands took Paris by surprise on Wednesday, buying a 12.68 percent stake in the holding to protect the interests of its national carrier, KLM. French President Emmanuel Macron asked Amsterdam to provide "clarifications."

"We have a shared objective, which is to make of the Air France-KLM group the most effective, performing ... airline in the world .

.. And we've decided to set going a work process to transform and strengthen our vision for the future of the Air France-KLM group. That process will produce its conclusions by the end of June," Le Maire said at a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra.

The French minister referred to Amsterdam's "unorthodox acquisition of a stake."

The Dutch government bought the stake as it saw that decisions had been increasingly taken on the level of the holding, Hoekstra explained Wednesday. Amsterdam is planning to eventually build up its stake to equal the 14.3 percent France owns.