On April 24th, 2014, the French government was unexpectedly informed of the sale of Alstom's power division representing 75% of the group's overall business. After two months of relentless political battle, Minister of Economy, Arnaud Montebourg, managed to obtain a deal safeguarding the French interests. However, there remain a few twilight zones: arrests in the United States, cases of corruption and conflicts of interests have sealed a deal that seems rather unclear and raises the broader issue of the French national energy and military independence.