金融時報:統(tǒng)制主義，天降殺機？

統(tǒng)制主義，天降殺機？

法國政府為什么要阻止雅虎對Dailymotion的收購？法國的經(jīng)濟模式與英美有何不同？答案就是歷史悠久的“統(tǒng)制主義”，它甚至可以追溯到路易十四的財政大臣柯爾貝爾。FT巴黎社長Hugh Carnegy失望地指出，今天的統(tǒng)制主義不僅不斷氣，而且還有了些新的內(nèi)容。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

dirigisme|[法]政府對經(jīng)濟的管制和干預(yù)。二戰(zhàn)后，法國左右政治派別都贊同，政府應(yīng)在資本主義經(jīng)濟基礎(chǔ)上，興辦一些國有企業(yè)（郵政鐵路核電等）和通過各種經(jīng)濟手段進(jìn)行調(diào)控和引導(dǎo)，以使缺乏大企業(yè)的法國經(jīng)濟復(fù)興。

voluble['v?lj?b(?)l] adj.健談的

La Bastille 巴黎的巴士底獄廣場

PSA Peugeot Citroën 標(biāo)志雪鐵龍

irk[??k] v.使煩惱，使厭倦

redundancy [r?'d?nd(?)ns?] n.冗余，裁員

hurl at 投向

megaphone['meg?f??n] n.擴音器

blast furnace 高爐

right of first refusal 優(yōu)先購買權(quán)

SNCF 法國國營鐵路公司

caveat ['kæviæt] n.警告，說明

furtive ['f??t?v] adj.秘密的，鬼鬼祟祟的

Inside Business: Dirigisme dies hard in France (771 words)

By Hugh Carnegy

Arnaud Montebourg could hardly have chosen a more fitting day to launch his latest public assault on one of the world’s biggest companies. The voluble French industry minister’s boast that he had blocked Yahoo from “devouring” Dailymotion, a French video website that the US group wanted to acquire, came as trade unionists were gathering at La Bastille for their annual May Day parade.

By preserving Dailymotion for the nation, the socialist minister may be attempting to save some face with French workers after his failure to stop the closure of an ArcelorMittal steel furnace at Florange in the north of the country. But the startling implication is that France has added dotcom companies to the list of those to be shielded from foreign takeover. This raises the question of exactly what President François Hollande’s policy is on state ownership and control of companies.

Mr Montebourg, whose spat with Yahoo followed very public clashes with Maurice Taylor, head of US tyremaker Titan International, and the owners of carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën, irks French business leaders as much as foreign counterparts.

The man in charge of the “Say Oui to France” inward investment campaign is clearly doing little for France’s image with investors. His move against Yahoo followed a week in which Mr Hollande had made overtures to Chinese investors and entrepreneurs at home to show that the country was open for business.

While that message has now been made much less audible, the government has adopted a more pragmatic approach than Mr Montebourg’s megaphone suggests.

Last week, the Florange blast furnaces finally went cold despite the industry minister’s threats of nationalisation and a stream of insults hurled at owner Lakshmi Mittal. The cash-strapped government accepted that a promise by ArcelorMittal to avoid compulsory redundancies and reinvest in the rest of the site was the best that could be achieved. PSA’s big plant closure and redundancy plan now has government backing.

Since the Florange affair, the word nationalisation has scarcely issued from ministers’ lips. In fact, in the past month, the government has raised more than €1.5bn by selling a slice of its stakes in Safran, the aircraft engine maker, and EADS, maker of Airbus airliners.

Furthermore, Mr Montebourg himself signalled in a recent newspaper interview that the government was willing to sell down other state shareholdings. However, this week he rowed back from a suggestion that Paris may sell part of its 85 per cent holding in EDF, the big nuclear power and electricity provider.

There is certainly plenty of scope for privatisations, given the €60bn of state shareholdings in quoted companies, including GDF Suez, the utility; Thales, the defence contractor; Air France-KLM; Renault, the carmaker; Areva, the nuclear power group; and France Telecom. Then there are its 100 per cent holdings in big operations such as the post office and the SNCF railway operator.

But while officials say there are “no taboos” about selling some shareholdings, there are important caveats. We are not talking here of a Thatcherite privatisation programme – even a furtive one.

The government is firmly committed to retaining its influence in defence, energy and transport. The EADS sale, for example, was in the context of a revamped corporate governance deal that left France with a core 12 per cent stake in the company. The state recently negotiated a right of first refusal on EADS’ 46 per cent stake in Dassault Aviation, in case EADS wants to sell out. In addition, Paris still holds a 27 per cent stake in Safran.

As Dailymotion shows, the government is also set on playing a pivotal role in new technology businesses deemed vital to the country’s industrial future – as was its centre-right predecessor.

The French rival to YouTube, founded by two entrepreneurs eight years ago, received €7.5m in funding from FSI (Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement, a state-owned investment agency), the state’s strategic investment agency, in 2009 before it was taken over by France Telecom two years later and before the socialist government came to power last year.

Some €450m raised from the Safran sale has gone into the new Public Investment Bank, which absorbed the FSI and is charged with buying stakes in developing companies, especially in technology.

Under pressure from rising unemployment and stalled growth, the government has shown some flexibility. But this will not be at the price of yielding control over industries regarded as being of national importance – which can be a pretty wide definition.

As Mr Montebourg has amply illustrated in the case of Dailymotion, dirigisme dies hard in France.

Hugh Carnegy is the Financial Times’ Paris bureau chief

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.Which of the following is not "dirigiste"?

A. Industrty minister Arnaud Montebourg blocked Yahoo's Dailymotion acquisition.

B. Industrty minister Arnaud Montebourg threatened to nationalize ArcelorMittal's factory.

C. Former president Jacques Chirac denounced UK/US economic policy as "Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism".

D. Former president Nocolas Sarkozy lowered taxes and raised retirement age from 60 to 62.

答案(1)

2.After disputes with business leaders, the socialist government finally reconciliated with whom?

A. Peugeot Citroën.

B. Yahoo.

C. EADS(parent firm of Airbus).

D. Titan International(tyremaker).

答案(2)

3.French government would like to control what kind of industries?

A. Those who are "too big to fail".

B. Those too big for private sector to invest in.

C. Those seen as being of national importance.

D. Those with long investment payoff period.

答案(3)

4.Is there something new about today's French dirigisme?

A. Nothing new.

B. The government also wants to play a pivotal role in new technology businesses.

C. The government plans to reduce its shareholdings in state-owned enterprises.

D. The government is hostile only to foreign capital.

答案(4)

* * *

(1) 答案：D.Former president Nocolas Sarkozy lowered taxes and raised retirement age from 60 to 62.

解釋：ABC都是管制主義的政策或姿態(tài)。 戴高樂、蓬皮杜、希拉克等右翼總統(tǒng)也都是管制主義的奉行者，法國的私有化遠(yuǎn)沒有英美撒切爾-里根革命那種大規(guī)模。這兩種經(jīng)濟模式的支持者沒少互相吐槽。

(2) 答案：A.Peugeot Citroën.

解釋：政府最后與米塔爾和解，并支持了標(biāo)致雪鐵龍的關(guān)廠減產(chǎn)計劃。

本文中出現(xiàn)了一堆一堆的陌生的公司名稱，不需要費時去細(xì)讀，你只需要知道它們是哪一類的。GDF Suez, the utility; Thales, the defence contractor...看到前面的state shareholdings in quoted companies, including 就可以知道這些“都是國有控股公司”，就可以了。如果問題中問到了細(xì)節(jié)，再回來找是很快的。

(3) 答案：C.Those seen as being of national importance.

解釋：A是英美政府的理念，在金融危機后，作為權(quán)宜之計，被迫收購了一些銀行和汽車公司，但它們不會長期持有，隨著經(jīng)濟好轉(zhuǎn)，這些股份將被全額出售。 法國政府長期控制一些行業(yè)，是認(rèn)為它們具有戰(zhàn)略重要性。至于B理由是不成立的，世界上市值最大的公司蘋果就是私企。D理由其實也不成立，亞馬遜在上市后連虧9年投資者還在不斷注資。

(4) 答案：B.The government also wants to play a pivotal role in new technology businesses.

解釋：Dailymotion并購案顯示了法國政府也想在新科技領(lǐng)域插手，不僅是傳統(tǒng)的鐵路核電郵政等行業(yè)了，F(xiàn)rance has added dotcom companies to the list.文中提到，政府的策略是，用賣航空制造商Safran賽峰集團(tuán)股份的錢，注資國有投資公司，然后用來收購高科技公司。