By Chris Jones - 3rd March 2006
Brussels is to investigate claims from Italian energy group Enel that the French government deliberately scuppered its bid for rival Suez.
The merger of Suez with state-controlled Gaz de France was announced last week, just days after Enel said it was considering launching a hostile bid for Suez.
Enel has made a formal complaint to the European commission, claiming that it had been in talks with French utility group Veolia over a joint bid for Suez since November 2005.
Veolia announced on February 23 that it had “no plans to participate directly or indirectly in a tender offer for Suez”, just two days before the Suez/GdF deal was announced by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
Enel claims that Veolia was “invited” to withdraw its support for the Suez deal, and has even suggested that French President Jacques Chirac told Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that any bid for the company would be considered hostile.
A spokesman for internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy confirmed that he had sent a letter to France asking for information “about the sequence of events leading up to the merger”.
“It has been brought to the attention of the commissioner that the merger was only announced after the disruption of negotiations between Veolia and Enel,” the spokesman said.
“This fact, together with a number of public declarations, raised questions as regards the respect of the principles of the free movement of capital.”
“There are indications that some of the principles have been violated.”
Brussels has given the French government until March 17 to reply – just ahead of a European summit at which energy policy will be high on the agenda.
EU leaders will discuss plans for a new EU energy policy to be published by the commission next week and which is thought to have been widely rewritten in response to the Suez case.
Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes has already said she has serious concerns about the liberalisation of the EU energy sector, in particular concerning barriers to cross-border takeovers.
France is not the only country pushing “economic patriotism” – or “nationalist rhetoric”, as commission president José Manuel Barroso called it on Wednesday.
Spain is also trying to block the takeover of energy group Endesa by Germany’s Eon, favouring a bid from another Spanish firm, Gas Natural.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.