Dolle had also described Mittal's shares as "monkey money." Not a term likely to endear Dolle to the new owner, and it was announced Monday that Dolle would be leaving soon as CEO.

President Chirac of France told India Today magazine in February that the Mittal-Arcelor deal was not in the latter's interests: "There is room for debate on questions like differences in corporate cultures between Arcelor and Mittal, or the conditions of the bid.... Given the circumstances of the case, it would appear that it is not in the best interest of the company [Arcelor]." Partly in response to India's trade minister, Kamal Nath's description of the maelstrom surrounding the takeover talks as an example of "xenophobia," Mr. Chirac in a later interview denied that racism was at play, saying, "In principle, we have absolutely nothing against a non-European taking over a European company." Well, that's reassuring.

Opinion makers weighed in as well. A columnist at Britain's Guardian newspaper, Martin Jacques, wrote: "At root the opposition is based on thinly disguised racism. But Europe had better get used to such a phenomenon: takeovers by Indian and Chinese firms are going to become as common as American ones. A profound parochialism grips our continent. When Europe called the global tune it did not matter because what happened in Europe translated itself into a global trend and a global power. No more: now it is simply provincialism."

Saubhik Chakrabarti of the Indian Express doesn't want any pity from Western columnists. In a column Monday, he noted, "Good European firms led by good Europeans got no better treatment in European capitals than Mittal did," and points to the changing structure of European business: "European politics can forget economic logic sometimes, but in general, it is rational. Would that was true here." Chakrabarti is more concerned with Indian politicians' plans for liberalizing their own country's domestic economy, and still considers the West a model of some sort, albeit an imperfect one.