An industrial spat between Paris and Rome deepened on Wednesday after France’s economy minister promised to nationalise a French shipyard unless Italy agreed to split ownership of the asset, reports the Financial Times.
In threats that point to the limits of the French government’s liberalism, at least where foreign takeovers are concerned, Bruno Le Maire said they would take control of the STX France shipyard and find another buyer.
“If our Italian friends say ‘this deal does not work for us, we don’t agree with 50/50’, the state will exercise its pre-emption rights on STX,” the minister, who took up his role in May, told Franceinfo radio.
If the nationalisation went ahead, even if temporarily, it would mark the first big state intervention in the corporate world by Emmanuel Macron’s government, which was elected with a pro-business agenda.
Under an existing deal, the French state has a pre-emption right to buy out all the shareholders in the company that runs until the end of the month. Mr Le Maire said Italy had until Thursday to accept the 50/50 offer.
But Italian officials rejected the proposal, which was offered on Tuesday, saying they wanted the state-owned Fincantieri shipbuilder to keep control of the board and the company’s operations.
“This is a good test to understand whether those who speak of pro-Europeanism and liberal values then also apply them,” said Carlo Calenda, Italy’s economic development minister.