France Telecom, Europe’s third-largest telecoms group, on Monday lost its court appeal against a European Commission order to repay about €1bn ($1.5bn) of state aid to the French government that Brussels had deemed illegal.

The European Commission’s competition department ruled in 2004 that tax concessions enjoyed by the telecoms group a decade ago amounted to state aid and infringed European Union rules.

To read this report in The Financial Times in full, see:
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/519589d4-ddde-11de-b8e2-00144feabdc0.html

Also see:

EU court: France Telecom tax breaks were illegal [AP]
A European Union appeals court on Monday backed an order by the EU’s executive commission for France Telecom to pay back illegal tax breaks of up to €1.14 billion ($1.71 billion).
www.newsday.com/business/eu-court-france-telecom-tax-breaks-were-illegal-1.1629061