PARIS (Reuters) - French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde on Monday welcomed the announced bid by Bank of America for Merrill Lynch and said the Lehman bankruptcy filing showed the U.S. Treasury could not always bail out firms.

"It is a shock, but at the same time it demonstrates a certain balance, which is that the U.S. Treasury cannot constantly save those who are in a bad position," Lagarde said of the Lehman filing in an interview with Europe 1 radio.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy and Marcel Michelson)