The European Commission confirmed yesterday that it will ask France to hold up payment of some $500m to Compagnie des Machines Bull SA and that it would extend its current inquiry into state aid to the loss-making company, Reuter reports from Brussels: it has left the French authorities 30 days to submit all necessary information to enable the Commission to proceed to an evaluation of overall aid; it says that the furniture reshuffling offered as a restructuring plan was not acceptable, being composed of a series of declarations of intent and of goals which do not constitute a restructuring plan to allow the Commission to evaluate Bull viability; earlier in Paris, French Industry Minister Gerard Longuet said Bull’s situation justified special public funding.
