Brussels, 24/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - Discussions between European Commissioner Mario Monti and French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy continued relentlessly over the Ascension weekend in order to give concrete substance to the base of the agreement that was sketched out one week earlier on the Alstom dossier (see EUROPE of 18 May, p.13). It does not seem easy to come to a final agreement. The Commission plans in fact to make France comply closely with European rules and recalls in a press release how important industrial partnerships are. They are, it says "essential elements for Commission approval" in order to guarantee long-term viability of the company and remedy competitive distortion created by the aid in question.
Commissioner Monti thus insisted when speaking to the French Minister on the need for clear commitments regarding partnerships., which must concern a "significant part of Alstom activities", and, as the Commission adds "in a given time". There is said to be some reticence on the part of France about waiving all ambiguity in industrial partnerships envisaged for Alstom, and the European Executive does not see it this way. According to AFP, the Commission refuses the idea of Alstom being supported by a state group. France envisaged a restricted partnership with Areva, a French public group specialised in nuclear issues. A situation that should bring fresh hope for German Siemens, interested in Alstom turbine activities but whose candidature was not looked at favourably by the French government which was keener on a Franco-French partnership.
Early last week, the parties welcomed progress made in discussions and did not conceal the fact that they were "very close to agreement" to be finalised "by the end of the week". Two days later, the spokesperson for Commissioner Monti, Tilman Lueder, sought to tone down the prospect of an imminent agreement, stressing that it was "not yet"., and that the Commission was not going to endanger the validity of an agreement for a question of timing.
The official Commission declaration on Monday does not therefore predict an imminent agreement, which seems pending on the good faith of France. Nicolas Sarkozy for his part recognised that there was still a "point to be discussed". "If I had found everything all right, then there would already have been an agreement, but it will come", the minister confided to the French press agency. Still refusing any hypothesis of a timetable for concluding a final agreement, Mr Lueder said on Monday that the Commission was "aware of the financial stakes" and that it would seek to make the agreement under discussion official "as soon as possible". The spokesperson restated the Commission's desire to find a "good agreement" but warned that, for this, "we need unambiguous confirmation on the part of France".