14/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - With Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder due to meet informally in Aix-la-Chapelle on Monday, the Financial Times published an article by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, criticising France and Germany's "interventionism" in industry. Naming no names, Frits Bolkestein referred to recent cases (French government's support to Sanofi-Synthelabo to "offer itself" to its Franco-German rival Aventis, Nicolas Sarkozy's cautious approach to Alstom, helping it to reject the advances of its German rival Siemens). Promoting "national champions" rather than allowing market forces to do their bit is hardly productive, he suggested, saying: "the result is that successful companies, which contribute to the EU's competitiveness, have to subsidise lame ducks chosen by politicians and bureaucrats".