By Mathieu Rosemain, Gwénaëlle Barzic and Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) – Anne Perrot is France’s new Antitrust Chief, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Paris regards this role as strategic as it seeks tame U.S. tech giants Alphabet and Apple. Meanwhile, sources claimed that the European Union is considering new regulation.

French antitrust authorities are currently probing mergers of France’s largest private TV channels. Bouygues (PA:),’ TF1 und Bertelsmann’s M6, in an extremely sensitive deal. The combined entity would have control over almost three quarters advertising on TV and redefine the industry rules.

The three sources stated that no decision was made yet about the nomination. It could take several weeks for the process to complete. They declined to reveal the names of those on the list.

Perrot (63 years old) is an important civil servant in the French Finance Ministry.

The Elysée declined to comment on what it called “rumours”. Perrot and finance ministry refused to comment.

Perrot is a doctorate holder in math and economics. He has published several papers about competition and large online technology firms. The most recent, which was published last January, is “Digital platforms: Regulating them before it’s too late”.

A report she also co-authored in 2019 calls for the reform of European antitrust policy, to enable the emergence European champions.

It’s crucial to have someone with new ideas about competition.” A fourth source close the French government spoke out about the hunt for an anti-trust chief.

Perrot has a deep understanding of French antitrust. He was co-chairman of the antitrust authority in France and worked as a consultant with Mapp on competition issues. In 2018, it was sold to KPMG, the audit firm.

En April 2017, her co-signed Le Monde’s op-ed asking people to vote Macron. It was published a month prior to Macron’s election as president.