Or so it appeared this week, when German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reacted in horror to Vodafone AirTouch's hostile bid for Mannesmann. The UK press immediately cried foul. In theory, it should. Under European law, a UK company should have as much chance as buying a German company as any other company, German or otherwise. In practice, double standards currently apply in many European countries.
Many governments find it hard to watch one-time national champions slip into foreign ownership.
The sale of Rolls-Royce to VolksWagen embarrassed the UK government as the car company was often seen as an emblem of the country's industrial past. But UK companies who have sought to do business in Europe, which has been slower to introduce privatisation, have found it more difficult. While French electricity giant EdF now owns London Electricity and the supply side of South West Electricity, its electricity markets are still in effect closed. Other companies should have been able to sell electricity in the liberalised French markets from 19 February. The European Commission is now to take France to court, a move sure to be welcomed by energy minister Helen Liddell.