Brussels, 25/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has announced that it has concluded a preliminary agreement with the French government on the Alstom dossier, as French Finance Minister Nicola Sarkozy has finally promised to find at least one industrial partner within four years.
In an official press release published on Tuesday, the Commission declared that Mr Sarkozy and Mr Monti had indeed agreed, during a final telephone meeting that same morning, that the French government would commit to creating industrial partnerships, under the following formula: "the State undertakes for the company Alstom to conclude one or more industrial partnerships within four years. These partnerships will centre on significant proportions of Alstom's activities. Except by prior agreement of the Commission, these partnerships will not concern businesses controlled by the French State, de jure or de facto, individually or jointly". The Commission is therefore satisfied with the French proposals, which will allow it to finalise all of the commitments it has made, "in such a way as to allow Mr Monti to submit a proposed positive decision to the College".
It is worth noting that on the previous day, the Commission had asked France for "clear commitments" on the industrial partnerships to be concluded over a "significant" proportion of Alstom's activities (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.15).
MEP Werner Langen has called upon the Commission to authorise State aid to Alstom only under very strict conditions. If the French government wants to help Alstom out with aid over 3 billion EUR, it has to respect the European rules, warned the CDU MEP. He believes that this French State aid is questionable not only for legal reasons, but also for political and economic reasons, because "at the end of the day, what matters to Paris is to rule out foreign stakes [in Alstom], for reasons of prestige". As in the Aventis and Sanofi cases, France is following a hard line, which will end up working in Germany's disfavour, said Werner Langen.