PARIS — The French government appeared on Wednesday to be softening its opposition to General Electric’s $13.5 billion bid for the power business of Alstom, the industrial conglomerate that the country’s lawmakers view as a national champion.
The government offered qualified praise for the offer after President François Hollande held a morning meeting at the presidential Élysée Palace with Jeffrey R. Immelt, G.E.’s chairman and chief executive, who has been trying to reassure skeptical officials in Paris that his company’s offer will benefit France more than a rival bid from the German conglomerate Siemens. He appeared Tuesday evening before a committee of the French Parliament to sweet talk legislators.
“Today it is possible to say that the General Electric proposal is precise, it’s better, and has been reinforced, notably in the area of jobs,” a presidential aide told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday after Mr. Immelt’s meeting with Mr. Hollande. “There remains work to be done,” he added.
While G.E. has not altered its bid substantially, Mr. Immelt promised legislators that he would invest in the French company, saying, “Alstom will not disappear.”
He also reminded them that G.E. employs 10,000 workers in France — more even than Alstom’s energy business. At the meeting with Mr. Hollande, he sweetened the pot further, promising to hire 1,000 new employees if the deal goes forward.
In a statement, Mr. Immelt sounded confident, saying: “We have made progress and look forward to the conclusion of this process in the next few weeks.”
Famke Krumbmüller, an analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, said the French government “has been playing a double game,” using Siemens’s involvement to obtain guarantees from G.E. to protect jobs, keep decision-making in France and maintain a French face for Alstom.
“If G.E. goes along on those points, there’s no reason for them to oppose it,” she said. “This is a big communications operation for the government. If they can point to a headline that says a G.E. takeover will create jobs, that’s all they need.”
Ailing from a weak European market and falling profits, Alstom earlier this year considered, then rejected, a tie-up with Siemens. It turned decisively toward G.E. in April, shocking the government, which was trying to help the company chart its future.
Arnaud Montebourg, the French economy minister, responded by publicly excoriating Alstom’s boss, Patrick Kron, and encouraging Siemens to come to the table.
The government also sought to gain leverage in the talks by decreeing new powers to block foreign takeovers on national security grounds, a potentially significant hurdle because Alstom is the leading maker of turbines for France’s nuclear industry.
But the momentum now appears to be swinging G.E.’s way.
Mr. Hollande, who is battling high unemployment, record-low popularity ratings in the polls and widespread criticism about France’s economic policy, has been reluctant thus far to embrace G.E.’s offer.
Mr. Immelt’s assurances, especially on jobs, might give him the political cover he needs to present a G.E.-Alstom deal as a victory.
From the start, analysts have said that G.E.’s offer made more sense than the Siemens proposal.
G.E. wants to absorb Alstom’s energy businesses, which makes turbines to generate electricity and the infrastructure to transmit and distribute power. It would leave Alstom as a stand-alone transport business, building high-speed trains and offering a variety of railway products and services.
Siemens has proposed taking over Alstom’s energy business in exchange for its own transportation unit, simultaneously creating a German-based energy giant and a French-based rail champion.
There has been some question about the seriousness of Siemens, which is still looking at Alstom’s books.
Christophe de Maistre, president of Siemens’s French operations, sought to convince the same parliamentary committee on Tuesday that “right from the start, we asked for four weeks time to proceed, and we are now in the third week of this due diligence.”
“If the process guarantees equal treatment and fair access to information,” he said, Siemens will present its proposal by June 16 at the latest.
Siemens declined to comment. Alstom did not respond to requests for comment.
The French government has called on G.E. to offer guarantees on jobs and the nuclear business and to allow French investors access to Alstom’s wind and hydro power generation operations. It has also asked G.E. to combine its own railroad signaling business with Alstom’s. At each, step Mr. Immelt has sought to play down areas of contention, saying that G.E. was prepared to address the government’s concerns.
A Siemens a deal would be far more likely to face antitrust hurdles at the European Commissionbecause there is considerably more overlap between Siemens and Alstom than there would be in a G.E.-Alstom deal.
Ms. Krumbmüller, the Eurasia Group analyst, said it was not entirely clear what Siemens, which is itself in the middle of a painful restructuring , would gain from Alstom.
“I don’t think Siemens is particularly keen about this,” she said. “It’s more as though they were pushed into it by the French government.”