Every day brings a strange news from France or so it’s been for the last few days. It is mostly the coincidence of so many items at once that make it funny of course and even then, I’m not sure that the French will agree. Still, it represents a classic news Post for this blog and couldn’t be missed so here we go.
French corporate giant Alstom is a huge company with over 300 offices worldwide. Their sectors of activity cover power generation and distribution as well as transport. In fact, if the average reader knows of them it should be because they are the maker of the famed TGV ( Train à Grande Vitesse ), the fastest conventional service with speeds of 320 km/h. But last month saw an offer made by American GE for the Power sector. In most capitalists economies, the deal would have been settled fast but no in france which has, for better or for worst, a rather protectionist view especially under left-wing government such as François Hollande’s Socialist one. The deal made the front pages with the dual results of awakening the German firm Siemens that is also interested and of forcing GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to go to France and defend his 16.9 billion $ proposal.
For practical reasons ( and considering that in either cases Alstom would fall in “dirty foreign hands”, the American offer is best. GE is of course also in the energy business but lacks the overall reach especially in emerging and smaller markets that the French company enjoys for one. But maybe more importantly, since France is saddled with a heavy unemployment rate, Siemens being geographically closer and more similar an enterprise is much more likely to cut jobs if it acquires Alstom’s Power division. The two are nearly competitors whereas GE would be complementary.
And yet, Alstom Power is very versatile, oil, gas, hydro, nukes, wind, you name it but the small part of it that interacts with the nuclear sector is paramount to France. The country is after all the world leader in civilian nuclear energy with a whooping 75% electricity production share ( roughly 50% more than Slovakia, Belgium, Hungary or Ukraine ) out of the 31 nations that use it worldwide? For comparison, the US percentage is below 20 or one fifth. For that reason if no other ( engineering and design expertise & excellence maybe ? ), the French government came up with a decree [ http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000028933611 ] that allows the State to extend an existing provision to veto takeovers in energy supply, water, transports, telecommunications and public health to include power generation. And thus, the end result will have to wait.
It is a little hard to clarify if this path is good for France. I’d be tempted to venture ( pun intended ) that in normal times, it conflicts with standard unbridled capitalism and makes the country less competitive which might be an influence on its aforementioned high unemployment. If however the structure of money over people that is prevalent nowadays was to suffer, vacillate, crumble down and so on, the French set-up could prove valuable. As one of those that believe humans should come before finance, I’d tend to support that. If France is serious about this however, it should also come back to its multipolar agenda. Aces are a fine hand but useless when playing solitary?
What makes this old news funny is that it links with two other. Coming back to the TGV and staying with trains, a blunder was recently revealed. The new regional trains of the French rail service ( SNCF ) are too wide for the platforms they serve. We know that the fault is not that of the maker. The new order of trains was split between Alstom and Canadian Bombardier and both are too wide. What happened then? The measurements for the trains came from RFF ( Réseau Ferré de France ) in charge of the national infrastructures while the specifications were issued by the operator, SNCF. They apparently did not listen to one another. This is not so great for a world leader in train transport right? The only good news is that the bill to shave a couple centimeters off each small town’s dock is estimated at 50 million Euros which is but a tiny bit of the 4+ B Euros of the regional network overhaul under way.
Second, having mentioned the SNCF, the company is being hassled in America. Two New York City councilmen are trying to introduce a resolution to bar the SNCF from competing in local markets because it has not properly indemnized Jewish victims of the Holocaust that were transported to the Nazi death camps in its trains. Never mind that France was under occupation by the Germans nor that the SNCF employees count amongst the top actors of the Resistance. Never mind that IBM, Bayer and other firms are also targeted by their action solely because they kept their name whereas those that changed their corporate trademark since are by now for ever out of reach for it. Just grab political gain from any stupid place you can. I am one of the most adamant defenders of the memory of the Shoah. I do not think however it rests in such quarrels. To honor those that suffered the Nazi barbary, the only proper way is to learn and teach all kids not to discriminate on whatever basis. Look forward dear sirs; don’t pass bills on the past to hide your inability to build a better future?
As long as we are dwelling on past events, a debate ( if you want to call it that ) has erupted after a Right Wing parliament member accused French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira of mouthing off the National Anthem in public. The claims from both sides are dubious at best : maybe Taubira objects to the lyrics or maybe she doesn’t know them at all and the far Right FN ( Front National ) hinted at Taubira’s color since she’s Black as foreign excuse. You know : the usual high quality Internet to and fro. The whole affair then switched to the fact that some words in La Marseillaise are not very nice.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27444750
The debate has since been picked up by media the world over and yet … Most national anthems carry such meanings or didn’t you know that?
“Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,” America despises the dead enemy
Mozambique “ toppled colonialism, gun in hand “ and “ struggles against Imperialism “
Slovakia “defies … the demons …. assailing its rights
Russia think their land above all others
“You are unique in the world, one of a kind “– and so on.
So yes, French people wish for “ … impure blood ( to ) Water our fields!” Abut one has to remember that this anthem was written when their motherland was being invaded by “plotting kings” that wanted to reinstate the King that the people had just ousted. Many national anthems were born in times of war and duress. Subsequently, their lyrics are rarely all honey and sugar. But one thing is for sure : whether it concerns foes, imperials or the “fierce soldiers \ féroces soldats”, it is not a matter of race but of nation. The difference may seem subtle but I sincerely believe that the national concept is unifying in nature whereas the racial one is divisive . Maybe … one day … after war has died and been buried, national anthems will be sugary love songs that make your grandma weep … in the meanwhile, get used to it.
And we close on a nicer matter. Regulars of Definitive Lapse of Reason have heard about Jérome Kerviel before. He’s the trader that apparently manhandled 50 B $ from his company Société Générale without anyone noticing which resulted in a 7 billion bucks liquidation for the bank and a trial for him. He was walking back from Rome after meeting Pope Francis ( a well known opponent to money over soul as his boss called for ) when he learned that his last appeal had him convicted yet again but freed from the burden of reimbursing the cash which he in fact never personally touched? Yes, that’s right, he did not steal a dime; his tricks were solely profiting his bosses! And yet, after many hesitations, he entered back into France from Italy and was arrested in the quaint little border town of Menton. He’s facing 3 years in jail and only asked that President guarantee an investigation into possible subordination of witnesses in the latest stages of his affair. So no stealing and 3 years i.e. 3 years for cheating? In the very loose sexual land that is France, that should worry many more!
There you go, those are the French essentials. M’well, actually, there’s also a small Cinéma Festival going on in Cannes but that will keep for the week-end.
See you then, Tay.
Definitive Lapse of Reason 