> Two major non-Chinese train companies attempted to merge

Siemens (Germany) and Alstom (France)

> It fell down to an anti-monopoly decision by a single person in the EU ministry, who killed the proposal

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition at the time (2019). At the time of the decision, she said "No Chinese supplier has ever participated in a signaling tender in Europe or delivered a single very high speed train outside China. There is no prospect of Chinese entry in the European market in the foreseeable future." This has since been proven to be a bad prognostication, as China Railway Signal & Communication (CRSC) is actively deploying its ETCS Level 2 signaling system on the Budapest–Beograd railway line in Hungary[1]; and China has delivered trains to Serbia, leased trains to Austria's Westbahn, acquired German locomotive manufacturer Vossloh Locomotives, and participated in a public tender in Bulgaria for electric trains.

She is no longer in that position. She has as of 2024 become "tough on China,"[2] acknowledging mistakes made in the past and touting how "China came to dominate the solar panel industry... and is running the same game now, across strategic industries including electric vehicles, wind turbines and microchips."

She now says Biden's IRA was a mistake, that Europe has been de-industrializing and that is not a good thing, and that Europe has been too afraid to impose tariffs on China out of fear of retaliation from China.

It sounds remarkably similar to the MAGA playbook on trade and re-industrialization.

[1]https://www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructure/china-railway-...

[2]https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/vestage...

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m4rtink 10 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Well, those are pretty big companies already - not sure combining them together is really good idea, unless you want to end up with a lumbering inefficient local monopolist.

I that regard I guess the anti-monopoly law is working ?

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IAmBroom 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Thank you for the details.

> ...acknowledging mistakes made in the past "

That's falling somewhat short of admitting she alone fucked that situation up. The US and Canada had already given permission for the merge to bypass antitrust laws.

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ASalazarMX 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Antitrust is important, so why not pass a law that prioritizes national or European companies for critical infrastructure, even if they're more expensive? Creating a monopoly to combat another monopoly is unlikely to end well in the future.

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port11 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This seems like the most obvious solution, provided local offers aren't massively more expensive. I don't see why we wouldn't award contracts to EU companies that create jobs here, pay taxes here, and follow local regulations. We don't need a super company with a local monopoly, just to stop prioritising “as cheap as possible”.

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CGMthrowaway 14 hours ago | parent [-]

The reason why is because if they did China would retaliate and cut off cheap access to Chinese imports. That is the double edged sword of globalization the US and Europe are reckoning with today, in different ways

	▲	port11 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I'm not really on an anti-China rhetoric, they can be a valuable partner and I think we do have a positive relationship with them. BUT, they don't need to win all public government contracts by undercutting local companies. They'd be equally upset if we did the same. I do agree that the global market is causing quite some trouble, although that could be avoided by most (all?) countries being nice to each other. Or even excellent to each other!
	▲	lukan 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		"China would retaliate and cut off cheap access to Chinese imports" That still would come at a hefty price for china as that means no or way lower income for quite a lot of chinese companies and people.

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kelnos 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Agreed. I'd think a better solution would be to ban Chinese companies from these sorts of contracts, and invest in the non-Chinese companies to help them grow. You don't need to allow monopolies to form to be successful here.

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15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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inkyoto 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> […] There is no prospect of Chinese entry in the European market in the foreseeable future.

The remark stands as yet another regrettable instance of history echoing itself – a lamentable parallel to that uttered by Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, whose acquisition of a 99-year lease over the New Territories of Hong Kong on behalf of the British Crown from the Qing dynasty was justified with the breathtakingly short-sighted assertion that it was «as good as forever».

One observes, with increasing weariness, that politicians – regardless of generation or supposed pedigree – remain obstinately immune to the most elementary of truths: history is neither linear nor predictable. It twists, recoils, and devours the complacent. Political decision-making, therefore, ought never be entrusted to those governed by the ephemeral whims of populism – it demands the discipline, foresight, and cold precision of a strategist trained not merely to react, but to foresee. Alas – such minds are in tragically short supply.