Paris (AFP)
The plan to buy out Chantiers de l'Atlantique by the Italian group Fincantieri is about to be abandoned by mutual agreement between Paris and Rome due to the uncertainties caused by the health crisis, the daily La Repubblica and Le Figaro reported on Wednesday. .
A telephone interview is scheduled for the end of the day between the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, his Italian counterpart Stefano Patuanelli and the European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the French ministry confirmed to AFP.
A joint press release will be published at the end of this interview, the same source added.
According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Paris and Rome are expected to announce the end of the takeover project there, citing the impossibility of predicting the future of civil shipbuilding in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Italy and France are on the verge of withdrawing the agreement between Fincantieri and Chantiers de l'Atlantique. These are days of frantic negotiations between Paris and Rome", jointly with Brussels, to "end the agreement that was to create a giant of the seas, "writes the newspaper.
The "final details" of this decision "will be settled" during the telephone interview.
"Patuanelli and Le Maire have agreed to abandon the operation, attributing this choice to the Covid. A ploy to avoid accusing the Union of emitting black smoke (as in the case of the merger aborted Siemens-Alstom) and play a dangerous game of passing arms between Italy and France. The Commission will thus be able to close the thorny issue in a gentle way, "assures La Repubblica.
According to Le Figaro, there is "a clap of end in sight for the project of merger between the Chantiers de l'Atlantique, specialists in large cruise ships, and the Italian Fincantieri".
On this buyout project contested by the building trade unions and local elected officials in the west of France, "the health crisis offers a way out", he analyzes.
"The naval alliance has lost its appeal since its inception. The Covid-19 has put a stop to the cruise market, whose future seems uncertain," continues Le Figaro.
At the end of December, the French government granted Fincantieri another month to complete its takeover by submitting information to the European Commission on the impact of the sale of Chantiers de l'Atlantique on competition in the construction sector. shipbuilding.
This deadline expires on January 31.
© 2021 AFP