The European Commission is to rule on July 3 in Luxembourg on the merger of US groups Honeywell and General Electric, according to a European source.
The commission's deadline for issuing a ruling on the case is July 12, but in this type of case it normally hands down a decision at least a week prior to the deadline.
The future president of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, said this week that the commission was opposed to the proposed takeover by GE of Honeywell for $45 billion, which he said stood virtually no chance of approval in its current form.
The two groups have big industrial and electronics interests notably in the aero sectors.
The July 3 commission meeting is to be preceded by a closed-door meeting in Brussels, probably next Monday, of the consultative committee grouping competition representatives of the 15 EU member states, who will have already received copies of the commission's draft report on the merger.
Both the European Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times have reported the commission will recommend blocking it in its current form.
Last Thursday GE offered concessions to meet EU competition objections but said these were unlikely to satisfy the EU authorities.
European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti reacted angrily on Monday to remarks suggesting that the EU had already decided to reject the plan, and he condemned political pressure.
On Friday, US President George Bush had said that his team had made contacts in Brussels over the deal and had the impression that the commission had already taken a decision to reject the takeover.
