Helsinki, 05/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Mario Monti said in Helsinki on Friday that he would be asking his colleagues to issue a negative opinion on 10 October on the Schneider/Legrand merger (see EUROPE of 5 October, p.14). This would have serious repercussions on Schneider, which acquired 98% of the Legrand in August through an exchange offer. It would be disastrous for Schneider to resell its stake since it would make it easy prey to a potential hostile takeover bid, and it would also spell disaster for Legrand which would be left without support. This point was made to Romano Prodi and Mario Monti this week in phone calls from the French President, Jacques Chirac, and the French Finance Minister, Laurent Fabius.