STMicroelectronics Merger Reflects Market and Security Dilemmas

France's large energy companies, GDF and Suez, announced on the 27th the contents of their rapid merger plan costing 40 billion euros. French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Thierry Breton said that the merger will be a complete acquisition of Suez by GDF, and the entire merger process is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on the same day that the hasty merger of two major French energy companies to avoid being acquired by an Italian company violated market rules, and the EU should immediately intervene in this merger transaction. Italy and France refuse to give in to each other and even go to court with the EU, which reflects the difficulties that the EU faces between market and national security in the integration process.

The French moved so quickly that the Italians were furious. On the 25th of this month, just three days after Enel expressed interest in acquiring Suez, French Prime Minister de Villepin announced the merger, and the merger plan was fully released in just two days. On the 27th, Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola canceled his original plan to visit Paris and told the media that the French government "used its financial resources to launch a blitzkrieg and interfered with the free market." He said that Italy will not hesitate to impose sanctions on those who do not respect market rules.

According to Italian media reports, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Giulio Tremonti will urgently fly to the EU headquarters to meet with the EU Competition Commissioner Nellie Kless-Smit, and will meet with the EU Internal Affairs Commission on March 1. Commissioner of the market, Charlie McCreevey. European Commission spokesman Lettenberger said on the 27th that the EU has not yet received a formal complaint from Italy. Once received, the EU will carefully review it to determine whether the merger transaction violates the EU's rules on internal market competition.

However, French Prime Minister de Villepin recently stated: "France's independence in energy supply is of important strategic significance. The merger of GDF and Suez seems to be the most appropriate solution." French analysts also pointed out , although the reason for this merger transaction is to protect domestic companies from foreign acquisitions, at the same time, this merger is strategic and will enable the two major French energy companies to complement each other's advantages. It is said that after the merger, the two companies can save 500 million euros a year and there will be no layoffs. There has been a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the European energy industry recently, triggering debate at the political level. Two weeks ago, German energy company E. After ON Company proposed to acquire Spain's Endesa Electricity Company for 29.1 billion euros, the Spanish government did not support this. However, the European Union has recently warned the Spanish government not to intervene in this acquisition.

How to balance the free market and national security has become a difficult problem on the road to EU integration. Especially after the "vindictiveness" incidents in Russia and Ukraine, European countries have begun to consider how to reduce their dependence on other countries' energy. Therefore, the energy industry related to the "national economy and people's livelihood" has also become an important sector that countries are protecting at all costs.