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Le Maire Will Seek to Convince Vestager on Siemens-Alstom Merger

Le Maire Will Seek to Convince Vestager on Siemens-Alstom Merger

(Bloomberg) -- France will seek to convince European antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager to allow the merger between rail companies Siemens AG and Alstom SA, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Journal du Dimanche.

The European Commission may block a plan to merge the German and French companies’ rail units over concerns that the deal between the rivals would stifle competition in the region’s train-equipment market. “Conditions are met” to respond to the EU Commission demands on the merger, Le Maire said in an interview with the newspaper.

Le Maire said Vestager has shown “her courage” in recent years by imposing fines on digital giants and added that he’ll reiterate the view that stopping the merger would be a political mistake and an economic error.

He repeated the need for a big European company to face global competition in the rail sector, citing the industry in China. Le Maire and Vestager will meet in Paris on Monday, the minister told the newspaper.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin, Chitra Somayaji

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