The annual meeting of Renault shareholders scheduled for Wednesday is announced to be stormy: after the wreck of the merger with FCA that would have given birth to the world's first car group, the president Jean-Dominique Senard, according to French press sources, consider resignation.
Senard has never made a secret of being very much in favor of the agreement with FCA and on Wednesday's board of directors he supported his line until the end but the government representatives demanded the postponement of any decision, forcing FCA to withdraw its marriage proposal.
The gap between Senard and the top managers of Renault on the one hand and the French government on the other could not be clearer than this, despite the fact that in January the government had brought Senard to the presidency of the car manufacturer. Today, however, Senard appears at the top of the list of losers and it is for this reason that he would be willing to resign from his position, even if it is probable that the Government, to avoid the worst, will reject the resignation at least for now and want to verify if the relationship with FCA whether or not it is recoverable.
What is certain is that, barring twists and turns, Wednesday's assembly promises to be nothing short of hot and that, after the heavy political interference of the transalpine car manufacturer, it is hard to see which other group could come forward in the future to marry Renault, which will have to do wonders not to screw up the partnership with the Japanese Nissan. But, while the French minister Le Maire has tried in recent days to appease the Japanese of Nissan, Senard has blocked their restructuring plan by escalating relations again.
