Germany agrees to stay in pounds 40bn Eurofighter project

Volker Ruhe, the German defence minister, last night banished any remaining doubts over his country's commitment to the pounds 40bn Eurofighter programme. "The coalition has agreed, it's fully funded for five years, and it will be voted through as part of our 1998 budget in November," he said before a meeting with the Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, in London last night. "It's in the bag," Mr Ruhe said.

Britain, which has a pounds 15bn share in the Eurofighter, has put strong pressure on Bonn stay in the project, despite demands in Germany for the project be scrapped in order to cut public spending and enable the country to meet the Maastricht criteria for the single European currency