Brussel en Parijs bereiken overeenkomst over staatssteun aan Alstom (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission today announced that it had come to an agreement with the French government to save the troubled industrial giant Alstom from bankruptcy and potentially safeguard over 75,000 jobs.

The deal ends months of complex wrangling over whether French plans to bail out the company contravened EU competition law.

Under the terms of the agreement, the French government will be allowed to pump in around 2.5 billion euro to the company, taking a 31.5 percent stake in Alstom.

In return, Alstom will have to dispose of some businesses and will be forced to engage in "industrial partnerships" with non state-owned companies.

Announcing the plan, competition commissioner Mario Monti said that it offered "an excellent basis to safeguard Alstom's industrial future".

He added that industrial partnerships - which will have to be private, rather than state owned - were "absolutely crucial" to Alstom's future.

Open doors

The deal opens the door for Alstom's competitors to bid for sought-after parts of its business.

But Alstom slammed the door today (26 May) on its main competitor, the German industrial firm Siemens, saying that a tie-up with Siemens was "not ... in the interest of our clients, staff or shareholders".

Alstom also announced today that its net loss for the year up to May 2004 was over 1.8 billion euro - a worse result than had been feared. Shares in the company declined by about seven percent following the news.

The company - which manufactures high speed trains and gas turbines amongst other things - employs 75,000 people in 75 countries worldwide.