EU: French companies backtrack from joint deregulation call
'French companies backtrack from joint deregulation call with Berlin'
Some signatories of a joint appeal by French and German business bosses to loosen merger rules and scrap environmental laws to promote European industrial “champions” have distanced themselves from the letter, saying they were encouraged to write it by their national governments....
Co-authored by TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné and Roland Busch of Siemens, the letter was written “in the name of” 46 chief executives who met with the two heads of state during a high-level, closed-door meeting between industry and the governments in Evian, France, in early September.
But since the letter came to light, some of the French companies it claims to speak on behalf of are backtracking.
The letter is a good summary of the discussion held at Evian, said BPIFrance, the French public investment bank. But its CEO, Nicolas Dufourcq, doesn’t consider himself bound by it, he told POLITICO in a written statement.
Dufourcq said the letter was “not a big effort.” Although he was in Evian, he did not see it before it was published, and therefore doesn’t consider that he signed it...
A representative from a second French company among the signatories said that the origin of the letter was “a little nebulous” and that they were not informed of the wording ahead of time. Granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, they said that they did not disagree with the letter, but “the wording is a little strong.”
Even TotalEnergies, one of the two top signatories, has sought to clarify how the letter came about. Shortly after POLITICO reported on it, the company reached out directly to provide “more context.”
“The CEO of Siemens and TotalEnergies were the co-chairmen of the Evian Franco-German meeting gathering 46 CEOs,” a spokesperson said. “They welcomed Chancellor Merz and President Macron during a special session, and they were encouraged by both leaders to express their priorities as CEOs to develop Europe’s competitiveness.” The letter, he added, “summarizes the 5 top priorities and call for actions in the short term which resulted from the debates between the CEOs.”
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“The letter emerged from the group discussion, so [Deutsche Börse Group CEO] Stephan Leithner, who was among the participants, was involved, and we support the contents of the letter,” a spokesperson for Deutsche Börse told POLITICO.
A spokesperson for Bosch — whose CEO is also listed among the participants — called the initiative one “spearheaded by companies from Europe’s two largest economies.”
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