Commenting on European Commission moves to block the vast new state subsidies to Compagnie des Machines Bull SA, Minister of Industry Gerard Longuet said, I believe it would be the best way to prevent any further evolution [at Bull] and I would ask the same treatment that was accorded the Germans for Eko Stahl and the Italians for their steel industry – There are situations that one inherits and that demand appropriate treatment – we inherit 10 years of ambiguous management at Bull, where enterprise objectives were added to public objectives and we can’t be asked to repair 10 years of orientation in 10 months; we will do it in two years – I realise this is longer than 10 months, but Bull is not a small company; it’s a huge industrial group, which is something maybe the Commission is ignoring.
