By William Horobin 

PARIS--French President François Hollande will meet the chief executives of Nokia Corp. and Alcatel-Lucent SA later Tuesday after the Finnish company said it is in talks to buy its French rival.

Rajeev Suri, chief executive of Finland's Nokia, and Michel Combes, his counterpart at France's Alcatel-Lucent, will meet with Mr. Hollande at the Élysée Palace at 3.15 p.m. local time, an official at the president's office said.

The swiftly arranged meeting, coming within hours of the companies announcing their plans, indicates the government's desire to weigh in on the deal and protect strategic interests.

Earlier Tuesday, the government warned it would be watchful of the consequences for jobs and the telecoms sector in France.

"The government will be very vigilant regarding the possible consequences on employment and activity at the French sites of Alcatel-Lucent, notably in research and development, as well as the effects on the entire telecoms sector in France," the economy ministry said.

The government has repeatedly intervened in international corporate deals in the past and last year bolstered its powers to do so. As General Electric Co. circled to buy most of France's engineering icon Alstom SA, the former economy ministry pushed through a decree to extend the government's powers to block deals. A 2005 law giving Paris powers over mergers in defense was extended to cover energy, transport, utilities, health and telecoms.

The economy ministry said Alcatel-Lucent holds a "structural position" in telecoms equipment and networks and described it as part of the country's telecom's "heritage."

"The government wants the details of the deal to be presented as quickly as possible," the economy ministry said.

While Paris has shown hostility to foreign takeovers in the past, the French government is also eager to see the emergence of European champions to rival Asia and the U.S. In that respect, the economy ministry said it wants more information to be able to judge whether the Nokia-Alcatel-Lucent deal would create a so-called Airbus of the telecommunications sector.

Write to William Horobin at William.Horobin@wsj.com

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