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EDF gets to keep the € 1.22 billion returned by France in state aid case

By  |  June 5, 2012

The European Court of Justice has affirmed the General Court’s judgment on Eléctricité de France’s (EDF) payment waiver. The General Court had reversed the European Commission’s 2003 decision to fine the French power utility € 1.22 billion for receiving illegal state aid. That aid, according to the Commission, was in the form of the French state’s waiver of a tax claim on EDF.

When the General Court reversed the Commission decision in 2009, France returned the money to EDF. The European Court of Justice wrote that the Commission should have considered whether the French state was acting as a private investor in EDF when it granted the payment waiver. As a result of the Court’s decision, EDF will keep the amount returned to it by France.

Full content: Reuters

 

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