Alstom-Bombardier merger awaits approval from European Commission

Text by: RFI Follow

The railway manufacturer Alstom will buy its Canadian competitor Bombardier Transportation for around 6 billion euros. This merger planned for 2021 would create a European champion, but must therefore be endorsed by the European Commission.

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After the bitter failure of the European Commission's ban on the merger between Alstom and Siemens a year ago, France and Germany had made urgent calls to reform European competition rules. They were heard by the Commissioner of Competition, Margrethe Vestager. It committed in December to update the rules to face global competition.

" We need European industrial champions to defend our economic interests and our economic sovereignty, " said Bruno Le Maire, French Minister for the Economy . And I see states that are evolving, a European Commission that is evolving. It is not at all a question of weakening competition law. It is a question of adapting competition law to the reality of global economic power relations, so that the European Union can weigh. So I have confidence in the ability of the European Commission, of the European States, to evolve on this subject and to make its place in this new group resulting from the merger between Alstom and Bombardier. "

" We are confident, " said Alstom CEO Monday on a possible green light. The first step in such an operation is a formal notification to the European Commission, but it is obvious that extensive contacts have already taken place. If the CEO of Alstom displays such assurance, it is, we can hope, that the company has learned from the Siemens file and found better contacts with the Commission. The situation has therefore changed over the past year, which bodes well for the merger of Alstom with Bombardier Transportation.

► Read also: Why the annulment of the Alstom-Siemens marriage annoys French politicians?

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