The EU commission blocks the Siemens-Alstom fusion with the attempt to safeguard the competition in the railway field



The EU commission has not given to own assent to the acquisition of the Alstom French by the Siemens German, operation consisting in the made available one of the respective activities of transport and services in a new exclusively controlled society from Siemens, as - according to Brussels - the concentration would have influenced on the competition in the markets of the systems of railway signaling and the trains to highest speed. Moreover the Commission has considered that the two parts have not proposed sufficient corrective measures in order to resolve these problems.

The EU commission has remembered that the fusion would have put together the two puts up supplier of various types of systems of signaling for railroads and subways let alone of rotabile material in Europe and that both the societies cover also place of leadership in the world. "In Europe - Margrethe Vestager has commented, European commissioner to the Competition - every day million passengers they are entrusted to modern and sure trains. Siemens and Alstom are both the tips of diamond of the railway industry. In absence of adapted corrective actions, such concentration would have involved prices more elevated for the systems of signalling that guarantee safety of the passengers and for the future generations of trains to highest speed. The Commission has prohibited the concentration as the parts was not ready to face the important problems of competition that we have identified".

The EU commission has specified moreover that during own investigation on the concentration project it has received numerous denunciations by customers, professional competitors, associations and unions and also has received comments negatives from various national authorities of the competition of European Economic Spazio. In particular, the interested parts were worried of the fact that the proposed operation would have affected in way meaningful the competition and reduced the innovation in the field of the systems of signalling and the rotabile material for trains to high speed, determining the ouster from the market of competitors more little ones, generating an increase of the prices and limiting the choice of the customers.

Siemens and Alstom have expressed regret for the decision of the EU commission to prohibit the fusion, turndown that the abandonment of the project involves, and have manifested disappointment, in particular, because the measures proposed from the two companies are not considered insufficient in order to answer to the worries raised from Brussels. Siemens and Alstom have confirmed their conviction that the operation would have created remarkable value for the total field of mobility, for the European railway industry, for the customers, the travellers and the pendular ones. All this - they have emphasized the companies - without to cause damages to the European competition. Moreover - according to Siemens and Alstom - the concentration also would have afforded the creation of an European actor in a position to tackling to the increasing competition by European enterprises.