PARIS (AP) — France's finance minister says EU authorities have decided to reject a merger between France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens railway activities.

Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday on France 2 television that he considered the decision to be "an economic mistake."

Le Maire said the ruling will block the creation of a European rail giant that could have been able to compete with Chinese giant CRRC.

"It's going to serve China's economic and industrial interests," he said.

EU authorities had raised concerns about competition in Europe in the rail sector.

Alstom is best-known for France's TGV and Siemens for Germany's ICE high-speed trains.