Deals
Siemens-Alstom's Expected EU Veto Unleashes Political Storm
- Rejection may spur push to loosen competition safeguards
- ‘There will likely be consequences’ with independence at risk
A Deutsche Bahn AG InterCity Express (ICE) train, manufactured by Siemens AG, leaves Berlin Central Station in Berlin.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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When Siemens AG and Alstom SA unveiled their rail merger in 2017, the former arch-rivals hailed the deal as a historic union, forming the basis of a European champion with the heft to take on an expansionist Chinese competitor.
The plan may well go down in history books, but not for the reasons the companies hoped. Rather, the European Commission’s likely rejection of the merger on antitrust grounds is generating a political backlash in Paris and Berlin against Europe’s independent competition regulator.