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This article studies the process undergone by merger projects. Firms’ mergers deeply changed the French and European energy industry during the 2000s. These operations served the interests of dominant economic actors, but they were also affected by a set of representations and constraints specific to the French State and the European Commission. These two organizations have thereby negatively structured the energy industry. Their respective regulation takes place in very different contexts and relies upon different levers. State actors in particular rely upon a specific kind of resource which determines their influence over the process of authorizing mergers.