HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - The head of the coastal metalworkers' union, Daniel Friedrich, is in favor of a merger in German naval shipbuilding. "Our goal must be to have a national champion that is so strong that it can integrate itself into Europe and not be integrated," Friedrich told the German Press Agency in Hamburg. He added that the value creation should remain in northern Germany.

District manager Friedrich said he warned against thoughts of Italian and French companies entering the German sector. "Because the experience is that everything is in Italy or France relatively quickly." Major naval companies in other EU countries include Fincantieri (Italy) and the state-controlled Naval Group (France).

Important naval companies in Germany are the Thyssenkrupp subsidiary Marine Systems from Kiel, the Lürssen shipyard group from Bremen and German Naval Yards from Kiel. Friedrich is in favor of the federal government holding a stake of at least 25.1 percent in a consolidated company.

The term "national champion" is not uniformly defined. For example, it is understood to mean national companies that are so large that they can hold their own on the global market. Other definitions emphasize that such companies are given special treatment by the government, for example that they are built up with subsidies as part of an industrial policy strategy.

According to its own information, the IG Metall coastal district based in Hamburg has around 178,500 members in north-west Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Shipbuilding is an important industry for the trade union district./lm/DP/stk