Brussels, July 31 (DPA) -- The European Commission announced On July 31 local time that it had approved French trainmaker Alstom sa's plan to acquire Canada's Bombardier's rail business under certain conditions.

The Commission said that while the initial merger plan 'would raise serious competition concerns,' those issues have been addressed by setting a number of conditions.

Alstom has promised to offload a number of assets, including parts of Bombardier and platforms and mainlines that are now alstom's.

"In future there will be a stronger entity made up of Alstom and Bombardier," said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president of the European Commission. At the same time, as a result of the above solutions, the new company will continue to be challenged in its core markets, which will benefit European customers and consumers."

Alstom has also had to sell part of its production site in Henningsdorf, near Berlin, the report said.

Last year the European Commission angered the French and German governments by blocking a planned merger of alstom's rail operations with Siemens, a German industrial giant.

Alstom Sa agreed in February to buy Bombardier AG's German rail-equipment unit for 5.8 billion to 6.2 billion euros. Alstom said it expects to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2021.

The French government reportedly welcomed the proposed takeover as a sign that Europe can create companies that can compete with the big players in the US and China.

Paris has been urging the European Commission to focus more on creating world-class European companies and less on internal market competition when making decisions involving takeovers and mergers.