Franco-German industry pow-wow delayed

A high-level Franco-German meeting aimed at finding common ground in helping industry has been postponed, only a day after it was announced.

Originally scheduled for next Tuesday, Berlin officials have cited 'timetable difficulties' for putting the whole meeting off until after the European elections on June 13.

But speculation is rife that the two sides could not find enough common ground ahead of the talks in order to forge ahead harmoniously, says FT Deutschland.

And Wednesday's unveiling of a new-look bail-out for French engineering firm Alstom which has allowed the company to refuse the advances of German giant Siemens, may have caused Berlin to rethink.

The two sides are known to harbour different approaches to fostering industry, with Paris' willingness to dig deep when flagship companies are suffering prompting German economy minister Wolfgang Clement to accuse France in one case of a "relapse into national interventionism".

Berlin and Paris were also thought to have divergent preconceptions about the meeting itself, with the former wanting to talk about specific cases, while the latter prefered to keep discussion more general.

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and  Clement were to meet French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

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