"With the decision of Brussels on the marriage of Alstom and Siemens, it is the future of the" factory Europe "that is played"

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Chronic. The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, must make by February 18 a decision with serious consequences for the future of railway construction in Europe, and meaningful for all its industry: allow the marriage of French Alstom and the German Siemens without requiring too many asset sales to reduce the domination of the future group in several countries of the Union; or amputate so many activities that the merger will no longer have any interest in the world and that its leaders will give up. "It would not be just an economic mistake, it would be a political mistake" against the aggressiveness of China, warned the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, Sunday, January 6, at the "Grand Rendez-vous of Europe 1-CNews-Les Echos".

The game is not won for the supporters of "made in Europe". Defended by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, the operation relaunches a question as old as the Treaty of Rome: must the rules of competition in the Member States be applied in all their rigor; or replace the operation in the context of the offensive on the world market by the titan of the Chinese rail CRRC, twice bigger than Alstom-Siemens?

Safeguarding competition in defiance of other considerations irritates some leaders

Hunting for anything that looks like an abuse of a dominant position is in the DNA of the single market. And, in four years at his strategic position, M^me Vestager was inflexible to the point of acquiring the stature of legitimate successor of Jean-Claude Juncker to the presidency of the Commission after the European poll in May.

But safeguarding competition in defiance of other considerations irritates some leaders. Mr. Macron supports the notion of "European sovereignty" even in the industrial sector. Edouard Philippe is on this line. "To build European industrial champions, we must have a balanced view of competition policy ", says the Prime Minister on November 22, when he knows the Alstom-Siemens merger is threatened. Decades old, the current law is "Deprecated" slice Mr. Mayor. Their message to M^me Vestager is clear: why forbid to create global giants when American protectionism and Chinese-style colbertism assert themselves shamelessly?