Germany promotes champions as EU moves to kill Railbus

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier launches plan to make Europe great again.

As in comedy, timing is everything in European politics.

Only a day before the European Commission is expected to shoot down a landmark rail merger between France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier on Tuesday laid out a new plan for Europe to switch course and prioritize the formation of European champions.

Altmaier's "National Industrial Strategy 2030" comes as part of broader Franco-German moves to build up their manufacturing muscle in everything from electric cars to space launchers in an effort to counter the rise of China.

Most critically, France and Germany worry that antitrust regulators in Brussels will stop Europe's industries from bulking up, and want competition rules to be relaxed to allow deals like Alstom-Siemens. EU antitrust czar Margrethe Vestager is expected to brief her fellow commissioners on Wednesday that she has decided to block the rail mega-merger, according to people following the case.

That's prompting pressure for a rethink.

"European and German competition law must be reviewed and, if necessary, amended so that German and European companies can continue to compete internationally on an equal footing,” Altmaier said on launching his plan.

The German minister said he had drafted his blueprint with "much love and a lot of thinking" and wants to ensure that Europe doesn't slip from being a "development laboratory of the world" to the "workbench of our competitors."

He argued that national champions such as Siemens, Thyssenkrupp and Deutsche Bank should be supported, and insisted that "the survival of such companies is in the national political and economic interest."