EADS has recruited Sir John Parker, chairman of National Grid, the UK electricity and gas transmission group, and Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel entrepreneur, and chief executive and main shareholder of Arcelor Mittal, the world’s biggest steel group,as non-executive directors.

The appointments, confirmed on Friday, are part of the effort to transform the corporate governance structure of Europe’s leading aerospace and defence group and to internationalise the board by reducing the representation of its main Franco-German shareholders and increasing the number of independent directors.