Union bid to delay GDF-Suez merger process rejected

PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris court on Friday rejected a union bid to postpone a crucial Gaz de France GAZ.PA staff council meeting needed before it can merge with Suez (LYOE.PA).

The deal to create one of Europe's largest energy utilities can only go ahead once the main employee works council of state-controlled Gaz de France has given a non-binding opinion.

The request to postpone the May 26 works council meeting was presented to a Paris civil law court by Eric Dulon, who represents the French CGT union on the GDF central works council. The application was rejected.

The call for a postponement had raised doubts over whether extraordinary shareholder meetings could go ahead in time to seal the 100 billion euro (79.5 billion pounds) combination by end-June, the target date for completing the deal given by both managements.

The shareholder meetings cannot be set up until the staff consultation process has been concluded.

(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet)