GE Learns the Hard Way About the Perils of French Dirigisme
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President François Hollande, hosting some 30 global business leaders at the Elysée Palace in February, promised that France was working hard to become more attractive to foreign investment. “We’ve never been afraid of opening ourselves up to the world,” he said, adding: “I know that France is seen as a more complicated country than others.”
General Electric was among the companies represented at that meeting—and the company is now getting a painful lesson on just how complicated France can be. Over the past few days, GE’s plan to acquire key assets of French engineering group Alstom has become snarled in a government-led effort to protect the company, seen as a French industrial treasure.