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Hollande defends plan to rescue Alstom's Belfort site as critics grow louder

Xinhua, October 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday defended the government's plan to order high-speed trains from Alstom in a bid to avoid closure of the train manufacturer's Belfort site, which was deemed by critics as a wasteful plan for electoral reasons.

"The choice which has been made is to ensure through the state order that we offer all the help to sites and businesses who are most in need," he said while inaugurating Safran Electronics & Defense's new research and development center in Paris suburbs.

During a Tuesday meeting with local officials and trade union representatives in the eastern city of Belfort, French Minister of State for the Industry, Christophe Sirugue said the government was ordering 15 high-speed TGV trains in addition to six TGV trains for the Paris-Turin-Milan line.

The plan to maintain the railway and industrial activities on Belfort site also included an order for 20 shunting locomotives.

Under the rescue scheme, the state and Alstom will invest 70 million euros (78.45 million U.S. dollars) to transform Belfort site into a maintenance center for the European market.

Alstom has announced a plan to stop activities at Belfort site, northeastern France, by the end of 2018 to manage overcapacity.

About 400 jobs would be at stake, adding more pressure to the Socialist leader who was already haunted by failure to lower joblessness and suffered sliding popularity months ahead presidential election.

Voices form the opposition or even from the ruling Socialist camp criticized the government's plan.

"This is a good news for the company but it is clear that nothing is resolved... the more or less artificial order will delay the problem for few months but does not solve the structural problems of Alstom," Nicolas Sarkozy, ex-president and candidate at right-wing party primary told news channel BFMTV.

To Benoit Hamon, former education minister and rebel Socialist lawmaker, electoral reason was behind the state order, saying that six moths ahead of election "the government is investing in Belfort site what he should have invested maybe a year earlier."

The state holds a 20 percent stake in Alstom. Endit