Siemens decides not to sue against state-engineered Alstom bailout

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2004

FRANKFURT (AFP) — German engineering giant Siemens has decided not to appeal to the European Court of Justice against the publicly financed bailout of French rival Alstom.

"There was a possibility of taking legal action, but we're not pursuing it," a spokesman told AFP on Monday.

According to a report in the Monday edition of the business daily Handelsblatt, Siemens had decided not to press ahead with the lawsuit, even though it had good chances of winning, so as not to place a further burden on already strained industrial relations between France and Germany.

Both Siemens' current chairman Heinrich von Pierer and his designated successor, Klaus Kleinfeld, who takes the reins of the German giant at the end of January, have both indicated they did not want to...