The interference of the French government no doubt had a great role to play in that.
Economics minister Arnaud Montebourg, for undisguised nationalistic reasons, has lobbied for a counter-bid from Munich to keep the French national industrial champion at least in European hands, and showed his annoyance over not having been informed by Alstom about what must have been months of behind-the-scenes negotiations with GE.
Montebourg
