The proposal we made is air and balanced

In an inter iew with the "echoes", the President o the Executi e Board o Deutsche Börse, spurned by Euronext which pre erred the Nyse, back on his proposal o reconciliation, belie ing that it could be partially misconstrued.

Could you join the alliance between Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange, as Jean- rançois Theodore in ites you there

or strategic reasons, I would be ill ad ised to do so. We do not see where is the European ision in the Nyse-Euronext transaction. Our priority is the irst Europe, the United States. I they create a transatlantic axis, it will be a way or one-way, no possibility o return back. Yet, today, issuers and in estors need a European consolidation.

How do you explain then or Nyse Group and Euronext interest

I am surprised that compared two approaches, which are totally di erent. On our side, it's a merge. On the Nyse, it's taking control, while riendly, but o taking control, rom which Americans are conquering the European capital markets. With the transaction on Euronext, Nyse di ides European operators to place them under his guardianship in the long term. Stakes or Europe, it is there ore not that o a inancial transaction.

Euronext has chosen the o er o Nyse Group. What do you do

We always consider that Euronext is our number one priority, but we do not merge to any conditions. The proposal we made is air and balanced. Be ore considering to do anything else, we want to present our ision to the parties concerned, because our concept needs to be explained more widely.

What points were misunderstood

Our ederalist approach, our concept in computer science, and the question o the risk o execution. We are seen as central, but we are ederalists. In Deutsche Börse, 1,100 people work at the Luxembourg and 70 in London. or us, ederalism is a reality. This is why we proposed to Euronext locate the market shares in Paris and sales o data in Amsterdam. And it is only the beginning...

What you mean

Each new market which would join the combined group would remain local. And in any e ent, national regulatory authorities would remain rele ant. Look at our proposal and the distribution o responsibilities: the deri ati es would in rank urt and London, shares in Paris, etc.

You also want to keep the majority o the unctions o management in rank urt...

No, we said that the meetings o the Executi e Board should be held in rank urt. But it is not question that all members o the Executi e Board are based. or the rest, we actually proposed to Euronext locate in Paris, in addition to the direction o the market shares, se eral central ser ices. And we ha e room or manoeu re. Do not orget that we in were at the beginning o the negotiations, when the o er o the New York Stock Exchange occurred, interrupting the process.

It is there ore not a taboo to reduce the importance o rank urt or the bene it o other centres...

It does not reduce the importance o inancial market, on the contrary. Ultimately, any decision must ha e meaning. You see, we discussed with Euronext in good aith. The group asked us what we could make more. We ha e ne er been hostile and are open at any time. And, suddenly, Euronext said that he pre erred New York. We are aced with a ery special situation.

Do you ha e resumed contact with Jean- rançois Theodore

No, not since the General Assembly o Euronext. On the other hand, we are in contact with all o the inancial hub o Paris and other places o Euronext.

But you are put under pressure by New York to make your own o er...

Medium term, time is playing against the Paris square. By merging with the Nyse, Paris will ne er the European inancial centre, while our proposal in act centre in market shares. No one seems pointed out this key element. And, yet, belie e me, it is not easy to con ince our own teams o its own merits. It is the price to pay or Europe. We ha e also abandoned the legal seat in a our o Amsterdam. We want to register it in the articles.

What do you mean by risk o execution with Euronext

I there is a risk o execution, it would e entually be a risk with the competition authorities with respect to the compensation o the shares. We would be willing to contribute to a European solution, i it emerged, our acti ity o compensation o the German shares, today grouped in Eurex Clearing, representing a turno er o EUR 60 million. But our analysis o the situation with regard to Brussels makes us quite con ident to the point that we ha e proposed to pay compensation in the e ent o ailure.

Euronext seems rather to ha e a problem with Clearstream and your ertical silo strategy

Clearstream is a alse problem: about 80 o its acti ity are on the bond market European stock exchange (OTC) and roughly 20 equity, Germany exclusi ely. Its irst customers on the European bond market are rench, and most want to see a competition between Euroclear and Clearstream.

In it, you say now subscribe to the project o Euronext. Are you ready to outsource your it ser ices, approximately 1,200 employees

This concession has two dimensions. We actually plan to consolidate the computer ser ices o the uture together in a joint enture with Atos Origin. Then, the client must not eel made changes to achie e synergies. We there ore maintain a le el o ser ice at identical prices. The two systems, Xetra or Deutsche Börse and NSC or Euronext, are good and the idea is not to ight to preser e one or the other. This is the point o iew o the client pre ails, ollowed by the costs o migration and maintenance or the operator.

Could it a ect the synergies o EUR 240 million you go Euronext suggests that you cannot achie e.

Precision abo e all: we ha e identi ied 300 million euros o synergies which 60 million will be donated to the users. The remaining 240 million are a prudent assessment. We ha e gi en realistic igures, that we are sure to achie e.

igures... more realistic than the economies co ered by Nyse Group

I don't want to comment on the o er o New York. But one o my priorities will be precisely to explain the consequences o a transatlantic axis to the persons concerned. We want to in orm all stakeholders o the comparati e ad antages o our project.

It appears that the Germans and the rench ha e di iculty understanding...

Perhaps did I not well explained our proposal. It is also possible that she was misunderstood part. You must understand one thing: in iew o our partnership approach, we ne er in ormed or in luenced directly rom the members o the Council o super ision o Euronext indi idually. We we are gi en or in ormation on our proposal to Jean- rançois Theodore.

Can I exclude an o er unsolicited on your part

We consider our air and balanced o er. The analysis o the situation is an ongoing process.

Do you ha e an alternati e to Euronext

We ha e other options, but we keep them or us.