As much as I hate Goggle et al, let’s remember that the method they are seeking to employ they have tried before - state sponsered economic incubation of technology companies. It has not worked better than the the U.S. open markets and it’s not going to.
If they really and simply wanted to be state-capitalists, they’d have French and German governments keep buying shares of a Facebook or a Google until they had, collectively enough shares to have a heavy weight on their boards.
It would at least be more honest and it might work.
Agreed. As negative of a force as our tech companies are, they are in their position of dominance because of the greatness of the American free enterprise system. No European socialist “action plan” is going to beat that. If Nokia or some similar company had the chops to successfully compete with American tech, they’d already be doing it.