"It's basically a prestige project, and is going to leave Airbus and European tax-payers on the hook." I wasn't aware that Airbus was subsidized by EU taxpayer

"It's basically a prestige project, and is going to leave Airbus and European tax-payers on the hook." I wasn't aware that Airbus was subsidized by EU taxpayers. How does that work? Is it done in an indirect way, like in the US, where companies like Boeing get tons of defense contracts, or something different?