PARIS, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Airbus parent EADS is ready to give broad backing to a seven-nation funding offer for the troubled A400M military transporter, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. An agreement in principle is likely to be firmed up this week but details need to be finalised, the source said.
"It is 90 percent okay. The basics are there. It clarifies things a lot," the source said, asking not to be identified. A second source familiar with the matter said EADS and buyers were still in talks over the plane but characterised these as a "clarification" exercise rather than negotiations.
He predicted an agreement but declined to give a timetable.
Technical problems have pushed Europe's largest defence project billions of euros over budget.
Seven European buyer nations have offered some 3.5 billion euros ($4.78 billion) in support, which is 900 million euros less than EADS had sought.
An EADS spokesman declined comment on its response to the funding offer, saying it was still being studied.