June 27, 2007 (LPAC)--Investigation by U.S. government agencies of the scandal surrounding British global defense contractor BAE Systems is now the talk of Europe.

One day behind the British press, leading continental European media is widely reporting the fact that BAE is now under investigation in the United States by the Department of Justice and other agencies. Reports note that a guilty finding could severely damage the firm's American operations, or even led to the loss of the U.S. market altogether.

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine daily added another article noting that not only BAE itself, but also the incoming new Prime Minister of Britain Gordon Brown will come under enormous pressure, soon, because he inherited all the thorny questions that have been posed as to the reasons for Blair and Goldsmith shutting down the investigation for alleged "national interest."

BAE also draws criticism in Austria over the terms of an air fighter contract with the defense ministry there. This concerns the Eurofighter jet, produced by a consortium in which BAE holds a strong share, along with the EADS and Finmeccaica as other partners.

Especially among the Austrian Social Democrats, there is considerable uproar about the blackmail by BAE/EADS in retaliation for the SPOE (Austrian Social Democrats)-led government's decision to only buy 15 or 14 of the 24 Eurofighter jets on which the former, conservative government signed a contract. BAE told Austria that opting out of the contract, implies the loss of military contracts for Austria's industry, because these contracts were part of the original deal. It cannot be ruled out that the case leads to an investigation by the Austrian parliament, which would then be the fourth parliament in Europe to investigate BAE's doings, following Sweden, Czechia and Hungary.