French and Germans clear air over industrial policy

French and German ministers for economic affairs Sarkozy
and Clement have sorted out their dispute over ‘interventionist’
approaches to industrial policy at a meeting in Berlin.

In an attempt to mend recent rifts over industrial
policy, French minister for economic affairs Nicolas
Sarkozy and his German counterpart Wolfgang Clement met for what
was reported to be a successful discussion on 25 October 2004.

The ministers have reached agreement on a variety of
issues, said Clement after the event. “We have found a
broad consensus on a number of issues concerning industrial policy
and entrepreneurial co-operation,” he was quoted as saying in FT
Deutschland.

The issues debated during the meeting included the controversial
Sanofi-Aventis merger and the recent crisis over the struggling
engineering giant Alstom. In both cases, the German government had
accused the French minister of behaving in a “nationalist” and
“interventionist” way (see EURACTIV 28 May
2004 and 15 June 2004).
In an interview prior to the meeting, Sarkozy had said he wanted to
clear up “misunderstandings” concerning his approach to industrial
policy.

Another agenda point included proposals for a
Franco-German shipbuilding giant, a suggestion which Clement
has rejected, saying that the time was not right.

The ministers had originally planned to meet on 14 October, but
this meeting was postponed by Clement due to a crisis following the
announcement of heavy job losses in the German Opel factories.

Further details of the discussions and concrete outcomes
will be unveiled by Gerhard Schröder after the end of the
Franco-German ministerial meeting on 26 October 2004.

Read more with Euractiv

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