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To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (2612)	6/15/1998 8:30:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

This is a Dow Jones article from earlier today: E.U. Van Miert Seeks More WorldCom, MCI Merger Plan Changes June 15, 1998 10:35 AM BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Union Commission's top competition official will oppose a planned merger between U.S. telecommunications companies WorldCom Inc. (WCOM) and MCI Communications Corp. (MCIC) unless the two companies agree to make more concessions, a Commission spokesman said Monday. The remarks by Stefan Rating concerned E.U. Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert's views on the planned $37 billion acquisition by WorldCom of MCI. They followed a Wall Street Journal Europe report Monday that antitrust officials in the Commission, the E.U. executive, are seeking a full divestiture of internet holdings by MCI as a condition for approving the merger. At a regular meeting with journalists, Rating said the newspaper report was accurate. He said Commission antitrust officials conferred Friday in Washington with MCI and WorldCom representatives about the merger. The U.S. Justice Department and Commission are cooperating in the case. E.U. member state regulatory officials are scheduled to give their opinion about the merger Friday on the basis of Van Miert's recommendation. The officials' opinion, which will be non-binding, will go to the full 20-member Commission. Rating said Van Miert's recommendation to the national officials could change before Friday if the companies offer more concessions designed to limit the risk of a distortion of competition resulting from the merger. MCI has agreed to sell some of its Internet assets to Cable & Wireless PLC (U.CW) of the U.K. to facilitate E.U. approval of the merger. But Van Miert has said the sale doesn't go far enough. The deadline for a Commission decision on the merger is July 15. The U.S. Justice Department has no deadline for a decision. -By Grainne Hehir; 3-22-285-0136; ghehir@ap.org