15/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - In an interview in the French daily Le Figaro of 8 April, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Bruno Le Maire argued for a real innovation-based European industrial policy. What were needed, he said, were real “European industrial champions in Europe's chosen areas of competence”, focussing on “a number of areas of excellence: transport, space, infrastructure, solar power, motor car engines of the future”. Le Maire advocated “revision of the Lisbon Strategy, providing it with compulsory criteria on innovation, criteria as ambitious as for public finances”. He urged Europeans to better defend their strategic interests. If legal clauses in the United States prevent any foreign acquisition of a majority shareholding in a strategic American group, “why should the (European) Commission not have the same powers of scrutiny and veto over any foreign acquisition of a holding on European strategic assets?” he asked. (A.B./transl.rt)