Brussels, 03/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland on 3 April, just a few days before the Ecofin Council informal meeting on 6 to 8 April in Vienna, the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, who is to take part at the meeting in his capacity as finance minister, admits he does not understand why “there should be hostile takeover bids in the EU”. Speaking during a debate triggered by the recent wave of controversial takeover bids in Europe, which will be one of the themes of the informal meeting in Vienna (during the European Spring Council it had been evoked mainly before the press: see EUROPE 9159), Mr Juncker said that “in a mature economic democracy like the EU, it must be possible to achieve mergers through negotiation, if they are based on reasonable grounds”. He went on to explain (alluding to Mittal Steel's bid on Arcelor): “I do not allow the ideologists of globalisation stop me asking questions on industrial processes” affecting the companies concerned, as “pure market ideologists neglect the fact that human destinies are involved”.
While repeating that he does not like the expression “economic patriotism” used by French Prime Minister Domiique de Villepin, Mr Juncker said he understood that governments are opposed to a Europe that cannot see beyond the market. He also criticises the European Commission and its increasingly frequent denunciation of “economic nationalism”. He was very disparaging about the fact that the Commission's communication strategy “gives the impression that anyone who asks a question about mergers planned or already underway is automatically a protectionist”.