In an article published by the Roman daily Il messagero Mr

In an article published by the Roman daily "Il messagero", Mr. Guarguaglini is a very interesting tour of the major strategic issues of his group and his guardianship.

-In Italy, the investment in the defence budget must return to at least 3 (s) GEuro against 1.5 GEuro (s) currently, the 2006 budget could not be repeated in 2007 under penalty of having "redraw completely aviation, the Navy and the army, reducing them both in numbers and in terms of capacity.

-The possible further reduction of the internal market would, otherwise, consequences for the industry in the sector, it does have more than one client home for part of its products, domestic client which is usually an "institutional showcase" to grow exports.

-The Group's strategy remains the realization of structural alliances in Europe and a presence in all markets of the world, in the first place in the United States, as well as emerging countries, such as Turkey, Greece, Russia and Malaysia. With regard to the latter, he referred to possible contracts for an amount of approximately 2 GEuro (s), carrying on with ATR, but also on training M-339 devices, on helicopters destined for the coast guard, on satellite services. Mr. Guarguaglini also announced the intention of the Group of approaching Japanese and, why not Chinese.

-It reaffirms its willingness not to participation in the capital of Airbus, situated perfectly comfortable in his role as provider.

-It defines the conditions of the agreement with Thales, namely the maintenance of the interests of Finmeccanica at their current level, the pooling of activities and the adaptation of the perimeter of mixed capital companies, the confirmation of the role of Telespazio as head of the whole range of space-based services and the definition of rules specific for Finmeccanica and Thales to participate in wagering in competition by also using the capabilities of space companies mixed capital. It also indicates that the negotiations are in their final stage.

-Mr. Guarguaglini, who States that it is waiting for a response from the French authorities, the French alliance in the field of electronics for defence would present significant advantages, including allowing the merged entity to be "at the level of the major US operators. Indeed, this alliance would be the "leader in Europe in the sector and one of the most important global operators in avionics, communications, Naval, air traffic control applications and, more generally, in the field of large systems integrated defence and surveillance.

In terms of partner integration, Finmeccanica would bring its activities to Thales and acquérrait "meaningful participation" in the capital of the latter. The French authorities "should choose a shareholder between Alcatel, Dassault, or the Government itself which, thanks to an equivalent to our participation would ensure a joint control of the company". For Mr. Guarguaglini, "the shareholder may be EADS in this case, which should make its activities".

-Finally, Mr. Guarguaglini indicates three priorities to the new Italian Government: the increase in the part devoted to investment in the defence budget; stronger support from abroad to cope with State support enjoyed by foreign competitors of Finmeccanica and a qualitative increase in Italian presence in the Community institutions, presence which shall enable to defend national interests.