PARIS, Feb. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The French government on Wednesday joined Luxembourg's stand to oppose Mittal Steel Company's bid for the European Steel producer Arcelor.

    "We are opposed to the success of Mittal's public offer for Arcelor," French Industry Minister Francois Loos said at the French parliament.

    "Mittal has infringed all the rules of conduct, the grammar of international finance in this domain. You do not approach a group like Arcelor, a flower of the European economy and of the French metal industry without giving advance warning, without talks, without a vision, without a common industrial project," he said.

    It is the first time for a French minister to declare a clear opposition to the 18.6-billion-euro (about 22.5-billion-dollar) takeover bid launched Friday by the world's largest steel producer Mittal Steel Company for the world's second-largest Arcelor.

    Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, who came to France on Wednesday to discuss with French President Jacques Chirac and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin over the bid, said that France and Luxembourg were "on the same wave length" about Mittal's takeover bid after saying on Tuesday that his government was opposed to the takeover.

    With a revenue of 30 billion euros (36.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005, Arcelor was founded in 2002 through the merger of Usinor SA of France, Arbed SA of Luxembourg and Aceralia Corp. Siderurgica SA of Spain, employing nearly 30,000 people in France.

    The state of Luxembourg holds a 5.6 percent stake in Arcelor, and the Luxembourg-based steelmaker is a major employer in the country.

    Spain's government has also pledged to cooperate with France and Luxembourg in reaction to the bid.

    A union of Mittal Steel and Arcelor would create an entity that would have had sales of 69 billion dollars in 2005 and would have controlled 12 percent of the world steel market, with Mittal mainly concentrating in eastern Europe and North America and Arcelor on western Europe and Latin America. Enditem