Thomas Vandenberghe

Business Correspondent, The Continental Times

Thomas covers business for The Continental Times and has reported from more than a dozen countries.

Brussels Blocks Merger of Two Rail-Signaling Makers, Saying Europe’s Trains Would Pay the Price

The European Commission’s veto of Signatec’s 3.4 billion euro purchase of Ferroway is its first prohibition in three years and a signal that the push for ‘European champions’ has limits.

Oct. 11, 2026 6 MIN READ

Signals along a railway line. The merged company would have controlled about 60 percent of Europe’s market for train-control equipment.

A Vienna Bank’s Bid for a Slovenian Lender Becomes a Test of Europe’s Unfinished Banking Union

Donau Bankengruppe’s 2.1 billion euro offer for Banka Primorska is small by global standards. The fight over who gets to say no to it is not.

Oct. 8, 2026 6 MIN READ

The Ljubljanica River in central Ljubljana. Slovenia’s government holds a blocking stake in the country’s third-largest bank.