INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: GREEN LIGHT FOR BULL RESCUE PLAN EXCPECTED IN OCTOBER.

• Position: Brief Article

France has notified a Euro 517 million investment in Bull to the Commission. The injection of funds is intended to permit Bull to repay a Euro 450 million rescue package plus interest provided in 2001 and 2002, which should have been reimbursed before June 2003. The plan will take effect on January 1, 2005, ten years after the previous restructuring aid package (approved in 1994). France was not permitted under European legislation to pay further subsidies following this period. In reality, the new capital investment will therefore be a "virtual transaction", freeing Bull from its obligation to repay the Euro 450 million received from the State in 2002.

The Commission authorised the...