Paris and Berlin will this week join forces on efforts to defend Europe’s “technological sovereignty”, Germany’s economy minister has said, in a bid to fight off encroachment from global rivals and shore up EU industry in the wake of the failed Franco-German rail merger between Alstom and Siemens.
Peter Altmaier told the Financial Times that France and Germany wanted to make a joint proposal for a new European industrial strategy, including possible reform of EU competition law.
He said he and his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire had been spurred to action by the European Commission’s move to block the proposed tie-up between Siemens and Alstom, which was aimed at helping the European trainmakers to compete with CRRC, the Chinese railway group.