The leaders of France and Italy announced a deal Wednesday that allows Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to take control of France’s STX shipyard with a shared goal of creating a world behemoth in the naval industry, reports The Washington Post.
The deal also brings an end to a weekslong dispute between the two countries after France had unexpectedly blocked a takeover by Fincantieri this summer, citing job and strategic concerns.
The agreement was announced one day after the high-profile merger between Germany’s Siemens and France’s Alstom to create a European train-making giant.
President Emmanuel Macron, speaking alongside Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni in the French city of Lyon, called the French-Italian shipyard agreement a “win-win deal” aimed at “creating a world champion in the naval field.”
Putting the industrial dispute between the two countries behind him, Gentiloni also emphasized the new entity’s potential as a naval industry giant and said its success would help Europe as a whole down the line.
“Italy and France have a great need for a Europe that is a motor of investment, work, and growth,” he said.
STX is the only shipyard in France big enough to build aircraft carriers and large warships. Last year, it turned out the world’s largest cruise ship, the Harmony of the Seas, and earlier created the Queen Mary II.
Read more of this Associated Press report published by The Washington Post.