PARIS (AFP) - The new head of the state French electricity utility EDF is considering a part flotation before the end of 2005, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said in a newspaper interview.
Raffarin told the Wall Street Journal Europe: "The new chairman, Pierre Gadonneix, is looking at a project for a part quotation on the stock market which should occur, if all goes well, before the end of next year."
"I think that the trades unions are convinced of the need to part privatise EDF (Electricite de France)," Raffarin said, noting that the government was aware that the company was a special case.
This privatisation would be done "in the French way", in other words "gradually", he said.
The EDF is widely regarded by the French public as being one of a handful of French utilities of special importance to national cohesion and as public services.
Any change in the status of these utilities, and notably privatisation, is a particularly sensitive point for the powerful trades unions within them. For these reasons part privatisation is sensitive in political terms.