Fincantieri-Stx, because this marriage has nothing to do
The acquisition of the French Stx shipyard by Fincantieri collapses. France had what it wanted from the start, but Italy does not lose what it did not yet have and keeps what it always has. The comment of General Mario Arpino, former Chief of Defense Staff
Last night the agencies told us, but this morning the voice is that of Il Sole 24 ore : “Stop the Fincantieri-Stx merger, too many uncertainties”. In short, even if we had suspected it for some time, it is now official: the wedding will not take place. It's not exciting news (pleasant for us), but the coronavirus pandemic has offered a large fig leaf, and the announcement has become digestible. Cruise ships do not sell and no one books their fabulous holidays. Too dangerous. We might as well earn some money by using these wonders to make an acceptable quarantine for a few thousand illegal immigrants, with the advantage that there is more work for the NGOs and the candid souls are a little less agitated.
It is not a very complex issue, but combining history with recent events can be useful above all for those who have never entered the mysterious games of industry in the geo-economic arena.
Let's start with the Betrothed, and the two "good ones" who, at the crossroads of a country road, approach the parish priest who was walking with the breviary in his hand: "Well, the good one says in his ear, but in a solemn tone of command, this marriage is not to be done, neither tomorrow, nor ever …. ".
Who were the good ones, who the parish priest and who Don Rodrigo (at the time the Spaniards ruled, not the French) we leave it to readers to imagine.
We come to the present day, bearing in mind that, especially in Italy, the French much prefer to buy companies rather than sell them to us. Emblematic is the case of the purchase of Stx (now Chantiers de l'Atlantique) by Fincantieri, on which in Hollande's time an agreement had been reached which only had to be signed ( see Why France fears Fincantieri, Startmag del January 10, 2019 ). Money was then available in cash.
All legitimate, since there were no signatures yet, but certainly not very elegant. An attempt was made to mend the canvas with talks between Minister Le Maire and our then vice-president and multiple minister Di Maio, reaching an agreement that, like all compromises, was only partially favorable to us. But which, however, had been presented to the public as a huge success.
Instead of the purchase, Fincantieri would have received 50% of direct control, plus a very astute 1% soon by the French, revocable, the agreement states , "… in case of failure by Fincantieri to fulfill its industrial commitments".
Sword of Damocles, because it was immediately clear to the less credulous that Macron did not want to sell to Italy and, at the first opportunity, he would go in search of pretexts to remove that fragile percent. It was just a question of how and when.
The first maneuver was indirect, and came a few months later from the La Tribune website, which used a fake circulated by the Adit (Agency for Technological Information) controlled by the French services. Veiled accusation of attempted collusion by Fincantieri with criminal organizations, immediately denied (!) By the French government itself.
The matter ended there, but the first brick had been laid. After Macron's rupture, a further attempt, this time institutional, blocked everything about two years ago.
France, which had itself pure proposed the new agreement, do you take from doubts and, independently and inappropriately, challenges the European Antitrust because officially appuri if the affair with Fincantieri evidenziasse contraindications or breaches the European rules.
Of course, Germany immediately joined the request. Excellent for the cousins, who, from extension to extension and trusting in the proverbial slowness of the Commission's decision-making capacity, have so far gladly waited.
Finally, to the great relief of some, the "favorable" event was given by China. With the coronavirus which, blocking for times not yet known – but certainly long – every will and convenience of business, it was providential.
So, after another year of overturningbecause "all the required data were not yet available", the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, candidly admitted that, in the impossibility of granting a new extension (the one in force expires on the 31st January), without reaching a verdict he gets away with informing that it is now time to close with a new agreement between the parties.
The agreement between the owner of the French economy Le Maire and his correspondent Patuanelli has been there, in the sense that they have peacefully decided that the merger is no longer convenient and each one keeps his own home, well financed by the state. .
Negative consequences for Italy? For the moment, none.
France had what it wanted from the start, but Italy does not lose what it did not yet have, and keeps what it always has.
Promises of future collaboration? Those already in place in the military sector continue, and for everything else there is a commitment to collaborate and promises to proceed together.
We, given the precedents, continue to maintain our doubts.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/fincantieri-stx-perche-questo-matrimonio-non-sha-da-fare/ on Thu, 28 Jan 2021 11:13:51 +0000.