The French government’s demand for a merger between Renault and Nissan is out of line.

＜prologue＞

I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.

So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.

It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.

It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.

If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.

I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.

my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています

my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X

The other day, there was news that the French government has been repeatedly demanding that the Japanese government “integrate its management with Renault and Nissan”.

The French government is the largest shareholder of Renault, which holds 43% of Nissan’s shares.
However, I felt that it was not so different from China and Russia to “frighten” the Japanese government with such pressure of “unreasonable and selfish demands”.

It is not surprising that the Japanese government has stated that this is a private company issue and not a matter for the government to get involved in.

However, I expect the government to cover for Nissan behind the scenes.

Carlos Ghosn, who is both Chairman of Nissan (already dismissed) and Chairman of Renault (but is on his way to being dismissed), has been revealed to have committed a series of “crimes that caused damage to the company for his own gain,” including a special breach of trust.

Therefore, the French government decided that it was no longer possible to retain Carlos Ghosn as chairman of Renault.

This time, the French government has replaced the top management of Nissan and is determined to strengthen its control over the company and continue to generate profits from Nissan.

However, for Nissan, Renault is now “baggage” and has become a “prestigious company of the past” that only siphons off Nissan’s profits (half of Renault’s net income is Nissan’s “equity method investment profit”) and relies on Nissan for new technology, and there is no merit in maintaining the partnership.

And because of the history of the alliance, which was formed in 1999 when Nissan was in a difficult situation, this “partnership” is an “unequal partnership” that is extremely unfavorable to Nissan. Renault holds 43% of Nissan’s shares, while Nissan holds only 15% of Renault’s shares, putting Nissan in a relatively weak position.

In an interview with a French newspaper on January 20, Economy and Finance Minister Jean-François Lemaire declared that “restoring the balance in the capital structure (with Renault) and changing the mutual capital participation between the two companies,” which Nissan is seeking, are not subjects for discussion.

The French government has no intention of changing the “unequal alliance.

Economy and Finance Minister Lemaire also said in Davos that “strengthening the Renault-Nissan alliance is in the interest of both France and Japan,” which I believe is a “France First” scheme.

If a business integration is planned based on the current situation, it could result in a form of integration in which Renault and the French government, Renault’s largest shareholder, would have a strong influence. Although Nissan is ostensibly committed to maintaining its alliance with Renault, it is understandably reluctant to accept any proposal that would diminish its management independence.