TELECOMMUNICATIONS: COMMISSION PURSUES ITS EXAMINATION OF FRANCE TELECOM'S RESCUE PLAN.

• Position: Brief Article

The European Commission recalled on December 23 that it proposes to allow itself a few more weeks to gain a fuller understanding of actions to shore up France Telecom and gauge the risk of State aid. The French State proposes through a public undertaking to make a Euro 9 billion advance available to the erstwhile monopoly, to help it honour debt repayments. However Paris has refused from the very outset to describe this intervention as State aid. According to sources close to the dossier, the Commission has two options in the coming weeks: to open a two-month preliminary inquiry, the traditional aim...