EU launches appeal over WTO ruling on Airbus subsidies

The European Union is set to appeal a ruling from the World Trade Organisation last month which found that it had provided too many subsidies to plane manufacturer Airbus.

The bloc has been locked in a tit-for-tat dispute with the US concerning subsidies given to plane makers, in a wrangling that has been going on for the last 12 years.

Along with Britain, France, Germany and Spain, the EU is facing the charges of failing to comply with previous rulings about the trade dispute.

Executive branch European Commission said that they disagreed with the latest ruling, and is planning to appeal.

The US officials involved allege that $22bn of illegal subsidies were given to Airbus by the countries and the EU, an assertion rejected by the Commission.

"The present appeal should be seen in the context of two on-going WTO challenges brought by the EU against billions of US subsidies to Boeing for its aircraft production," the Commission added.