The French government supported the nomination of head of Airbus, Noel Forgeard, to be one of the two new co-presidents of the European aeronautics and defense group EADS, French Finance Ministry announced on Friday.

"The government supports the nomination of Noel Forgeard as executive co-president of EADS to replace Philippe Camus," the ministry said in a statement.

Forgeard is expected to take up his functions alongside Thomas Enders, named in the day by the German-US auto maker DaimlerChrysler, which owns 30 percent of EADS. Enders is the current head of EADS's armaments division who is to succeed Germanco-chief executive Rainer Hertrich.

"Noel Forgeard and Thomas Enders have a vocation to take over from Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich in order to lead a new stage of industrial history and of the development of EADS," said the statement.

"Finance Minister Herve Gaymard is eager to salute the achievements of Mr Camus and Mr Hertrich since EADS's creation, which have turned it into a world-class enterprise... and a great Franco-German success story," it said.

The simultaneous announcements on French and German sides on Friday ended weeks of rumors over the succession to the dual management team led by Camus and Hertrich since the creation of EADS in July 2000.

Source: Xinhua