Deal-delayers. (merger plan between WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp.)(Column)

Feds worry WorldCom/MCI could tip the market.

Washington doesn't hurry when it investigates big members, and European bureaucracy can take procrastination to new levels.

WorldCom's $37 billion offer for MCI has run into policy and antitrust problems. The trouble is not expected to be a deal-killer, but it will delay the alliance perhaps until early next year. The biggest merger in U.S. business history is being scrutinized by the FCC and the antitrust division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as by several states. European Commission (EC) officials are undertaking "a more extensive, second-phase examination." The DOJ served subpoenas to MCI's and WorldCom's Internet …