French Government Will Block Hasty Alstom Deal

France's Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg confirmed for the first time on Sunday that both General Electric and Siemens were interested in engineering group Alstom and said he would not allow any hasty decisions.

In a statement, he said he first learned of GE's interest on Thursday and then of Siemens' proposal earlier on Sunday.

He said the government was ready to look at both proposals but "will not accept that a decision is taken, whatever it might be, in haste" and without knowledge of what was in the national interest and what alternatives there might be.

Earlier, a spokeswoman said Montebourg was no longer expecting to meet GE chief executive Jeff Immelt on Sunday as government sources reported on Saturday. She said the meeting had been postponed "for a few days".

(Reporting by Andrew Callus; Editing by Sophie Walker, Reuters)