Press Release: State aid: Commission refers France to Court of Justice for failure to recover illegal aid

The European Commission has decided to institute proceedings in the Court of Justice in view of France's failure to comply with the Commission decision of 16 December 2003, which indicated that aid awarded by France in the form of exemption from tax for takeovers of ailing companies was incompatible with the state aid rules laid down in the EC Treaty and should be recovered from the recipients (see IP/03/1738). Almost three years later, France has still not taken measures to recover the aid as required by the decision.