The European Commission clears the creation by SNCF and SNCB of the Thalys joint venture

Thalys is a contractual cooperation between the four partners SNCF, SNCB, Deutsche Bahn and Nederlandse Spoorwegen. It was launched in 1993 and aims to provide international high-speed railway services between Paris, Brussels, the Netherlands and Germany.

On 14 August 2014, SNCF and SNCB notified the European Commission of their wish to combine their respective participation in the Thalys Cooperation within a new railway undertaking, which will be a jointly controlled full-function joint venture pursuant to the EU Merger Regulation.

On 19 September 2014, Brussels cleared the operation, in Phase 1 proceedings, without imposing undertakings.

The case was managed by Eve Monot (SNCF Voyages Legal Director), assisted by Gide (Laurent Godfroid, partner, Ségolène Pelsy and Romain Rard) on aspects of competition law, and Lacourte Raquin Tatar (Serge Tatar) on aspects of corporate law.