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BCN-03
EU-ECONOMY-RAIL-FRANCE
French PM slams EU’s ‘bad decision’ to reject Alstom-Siemens merger
PARIS, Feb 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on
Wednesday slammed the European Union’s “bad decision” to reject the proposed
merger of the train operations of France’s Alstom and Germany’s Siemens.
“The commission’s decision is a bad decision. It’s a nasty blow to
European industry. It seems to have been taken on the basis of faulty
reasoning,” Philippe told parliament.
“We have to reconsider competition law as it is implemented in the EU…
You should know that the Commission refused to take account of the world
market, including Asia and China. That is wild. It’s a very outdated idea of
the law”, Philippe said.
His comments came shortly after Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the
government would consider other “merger options” for Alstom, maker of the
famed TGV high-speed train.
“This French flagship has everything needed to succeed, but it must
consolidate,” Le Maire also told reporters, after earlier slamming the veto
which he said “served China’s economic interests”.
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said that Paris and Berlin would
jointly propose changes to EU competition rules to respond to growing rivalry
from global giants.
“We are convinced that we must think about, and make decisions about
future changes to European competition law” to make it possible for European
firms to compete “on an equal footing” with large US and Chinese rivals, he
said.
BSS/AFP/HR/0925