France will nationalize the STX France shipyard to prevent an Italian firm taking majority control, the economy minister said on Thursday, triggering an angry response from Rome to President Emmanuel Macron’s first big industrial policy decision.
As France’s most avowedly pro-business leader in decades, few would have predicted the former investment banker’s first big move in the corporate sector would be a nationalization, even if the government says it will only be temporary.
However, his action, which added further strain to France’s relationship with Italy, fits with the interventionist style of other postwar French leaders. It also crosses into the defense sector, where many national governments prefer to wield influence over ownership.
The Italian state-owned shipbuilder Fincantieri had reached an agreement in May to pay 79.5 million euros ($93.20 million) for two-thirds of STX France, which is being sold because of the collapse of its South Korean parent, STX.
Last week, it rejected a French government proposal to settle for 50-50 ownership instead.
That prompted the French state, which had a minority stake, to exercise pre-emption rights to buy out other shareholders before those rights expire at the end of the month, in effect giving Paris more time to come up with another solution.
“This decision is in line with the economic strategy that we want to build with the president of the Republic and the prime minister,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told a news conference.
“We want to free up France’s exceptional productive capacities and protect our strategic interests,” he said, adding that the 50-50 ownership offer was still on the table and that he would visit Rome Tuesday.
While Italy’s government warmly welcomed the election of Macron in May, viewing the pro-European centrist as someone who could help Rome on an array of issues, the STX move added to other decisions that have upset it.
Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Industry Minister Carlo Calenda called France’s decision to nationalize the shipyard “grave and incomprehensible.”
“Nationalism and protectionism are not an acceptable basis for establishing relations between two great European countries,” they said in a joint statement.
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