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Going Backwards Fast
European governments have recently built a score of barriers to so-called foreign hostile takeovers of their country's companies.
The new legislation, including hastily drafted anti-takeover laws against shotgun corporate marriages, seems designed to appease populist appeals to national security.
The ferment of activity has fed fears that a wave of internal protectionism is sweeping across Europe.
Cross-border deals are being blocked, especially in industrial sectors such as electricity and natural gas.
But although quite a few industries have been privatised or partly-privatised, national regulators guard remnants with a sense of jealousy and disdain.
The most prominent case is, predictably, in France.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is the champion of non-French takeovers. A new French law puts eleven industries off-limits to foreigners.
Paris has recently organised a snap merger of two utilities; publicly-traded Suez and state-owned Gaz de France, to defeat a potential takeover bid by Enel of Italy.
As usual, the situation is different in Britain. The British government raised no objections to the foreign acquisition of the prestigious car firms such as Rolls-Poyce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston-Martin and Rover-MG by German, American and Chinese conglomerates.
Whatever happened to the idea of a single economic market for Europe ?
Apparently, all gears are in reverse.
