By Simon Zekaria - 15th December 2003
EU regulators are set to ask French flagship power company Electricité de France to repay €1 billion to the Paris government over tax benefits and phase out state guarantees.
The European Commission is poised to give its decision on Tuesday afternoon, reports the FT Europe.
EU competition chief Mario Monti indicated earlier in the month that a decision on EDF was in the offing.
“This procedure has been accelerated in April this year and I am on the point of taking some proposals to the [European] Commission to conclude that procedure,” he told the European Parliament.
EU state aid teams are pursuing EDF on three counts of anti-competitiveness: for withholding tax payments owed to the state, "unlimited state guarantees” from Paris and for pension contributions from other energy companies in the electricity and gas sectors.
Monti said on December 3 the final decision would take into account two factors: the application of EU state aid rules and “intentions to open up EDF assets” if the company undergoes partial privatisation.
The EDF case is not the first time this year that Brussels has clashed with Paris over alleged state aid payments.
France has previously been indicted over payments to computer giant Bull and engineering group Alstom.
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