Günther Verheugen ontkent spanningen met Neelie Kroes (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen i on Wednesday (2 February) went out of his way to play down talk of division between himself and his competition colleague, Neelie Kroes i.

Mr Verheugen insisted that he and Mrs Kroes, who appeared to have fallen out over 'European industrial champions' and whether they should be encouraged or not, were in complete agreement.

"We are not against European champions. On the contrary, we want them. We want European companies that are strong enough to be global players", he said.

But these companies must emerge from competition at home and competition at European level. We cannot create them artificially", he added.

His words came after an interview given by Mrs Kroes last week on overhauling the EU's state aid rules in which she appeared to reject the idea of industrial champions in favour of smaller innovative companies.

Mrs Kroes implied that rich countries should stop being able to give state aid - which would strongly affect Mr Verheugen's native Germany.

This ran against a line pushed by both Germany and France - and supported by Mr Verheugen - that pan-European companies should be encouraged.

"There was a misunderstanding. She's not of the opinion that we can change the treaty and say state aid in poorer regions of rich countries should be abandoned. You cannot change that, that much is clear".

To illustrate how well they get on, Mr Verheugen said he had received a bunch of flowers from his Dutch colleague.

"My dear friend Neelie Kroes yesterday bought me 50 tulips from Amsterdam, which are now flourishing on my desk and bring me joy every day".