Strasbourg, 17/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - “It is not a merger, it is hostage-taking by the State”, Françoise Grossetête (EPP-ED/France) said in relation to the Franco-French project for a merger between Gaz de France and Suez. In a press release, the vice-president of the EPP-ED Group regrets that France “seems to have contracted the protectionist virus”. She denounced the French authorities' variable geometry assessment of company mergers. Ms Grossetête explained that, “when Saint-Gobain takes over British BPB or Arcelor from Canadian Dofasco, everyone cries victory, but as soon as the market wind is less favourable, then no-one agrees and the State waves a red card: expulsion of foreign capital and opening of State coffers, albeit empty”. Begun when the Italian company, Enel, was planning to bid for the private group, Suez, the project supported by the French government made the MEP leap up indignantly, saying “France does not live in autarchy” and “we cannot close the economic borders within Europe”. She went on to stress: “It is up to the State to build a tax, social and regulatory competitive environment, not to head a management board”.