Siemens slams EU after blocked rail merger

SIEMENS CEO Joe Kaeser on Wednesday blasted the European Commission after it blocked a merger of the German giant’s rail arm with France’s Alstom, saying the move shows the EU “urgently needs structural reform”. “Europe urgently needs structural reform in the way it shapes its industrial future in a globally connected world. Protecting customer interests locally must not mean that Europe cannot be on a level playing field with leading nations like China, the US and others,” he said. Ministers and executives in both France and Germany had spent months arguing the tie-up was needed to face down competition from Beijing-backed behemoth CRRC. In a statement, Siemens said that the remedies it had proposed “were extensive in scope and addressed all the concerns raised by the Commission with respect to signalling as well as very high-speed trains”.