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Brussels (AFP)
Margrethe Vestager, the EU's powerful anti-trust sheriff, is to veto the merger of Siemens-Alstom's rail activities on Wednesday, in defiance of France and Germany.
The merger, announced with great fanfare last year, was hailed as the birth of a European industry champion, an indispensable Airbus allowing the railways to face a formidable rival. Chinese.
But after months of investigation and an offer of unsuccessful concession companies, the European Commission will reject the proposal, told AFP sources close to the case.
The veto that was reported angered Paris, where ministers lobbied hard for rapprochement, considering it a necessary defense to compete with the CRRC, backed by the Chinese state.
The red light of Brussels will also leave a scar on Vestager in the eyes of France and Germany after years where she was perceived as a rising star of the European Union, called to play an even more important role in Brussels after the May elections.
"Decisions can not be made in the 21st century on the basis of competition rules set in the 20th century," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said last month before a meeting with Vestager.
A merger "is today the best answer to the growing importance of China in the railway sector and the only one," said Le Maire.
The criticism came after Vestager, a former Danish finance minister, reiterated her doubts about the merger announced in September 2017.
– & # 39; Stubborn Technocrats & # 39; –
Brussels believes that the alliance would crush smaller groups and increase the prices of the railway undertakings, as the merged company is in a prime position for the sale of railway signals and high-speed trains.
The UK, Dutch, Belgian and Spanish competition authorities strongly supported Vestager, fearing increased costs for their national railways.
Proponents of the merger wish that Vestager look beyond Europe and take into account the rise of CRRC, born itself of a merger of Chinese companies, before it 's. it is too late.
"This decision is symptomatic of a certain ideology of the commission that goes against European interests," said a French government source, regretting the "extremely strict" interpretation of the rules by the government. # 39; EU.
Taken in a political storm, commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday defended the EU's competition policy by pointing to those "who say the commission is made up of blind, stupid technocrats. obstinate ".
Juncker seemed to take it to Joe Kaeser, the director of Siemens who complained last week that "retrograde technocrats" were going to frustrate a strategic rapprochement for Europe.
"We will never do politics or favorites to ensure a level playing field," said Juncker.
The merger proposal was to create a railroad giant, present in 60 countries and with an annual turnover of 15.6 billion euros (17.8 billion dollars).
On their own, CRRC's annual turnover of € 26 billion exceeds the three Western heavyweights Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom, which each report around € 8 billion a year.
© 2019 AFP
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