FILE PHOTO: Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser attends the company's annual news conference in Munich, Germany, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

MUNICH (Reuters) - Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser called on European antitrust authorities not to be “backward looking technocrats” and approve the German company’s planned rail mega-merger with France’s Alstom.

“Now it’s up to the antitrust authorities to make a decision,” Kaeser told journalists on Wednesday. “And it will be interesting to see if the future of mobility in Europe will be determined by backward-looking technocrats or by future-orientated Europeans.”

Siemens has presented a “very balanced concept” for the tie-up, Kaeser said, which would be good for all participants.

“However, we won’t pursue it at all costs,” he said. “We have options.”