”"It would have undermined the health and competition of the entire European train market, the bill would have ended up with Europe's consumers. Both as train passengers and taxpayers," said Bombardier spokesman Daniel Desjardins.

Siemens and Alstom are the two largest suppliers of railway, metro and rolling stock signalling systems in Europe. A merger would have created an undisputed market leader in signalling systems and a dominant player in high-speed trains.

Since the European Commission's position on the matter was leaked to the media, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has supported the merger and criticized competition legislation for being outdated.

”"It is naive to believe that individual countries in Europe will be able to compete with China, the US and, by extension, India," said Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser at a press conference after the company's quarterly report a week ago.

According to EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the authority demanded concessions that the companies were unwilling to make.

The merger would have harmed competition in the European rail industry, the Commission announced in a press release.

”"Without action, the merger would have led to higher prices for signalling systems that protect passengers and for future generations of high-speed trains," said Margrethe Vestager at a press conference.

Source: news agency direkt-di.se