The European Commission is expected to order the French government to hold up further state funding for Compagnie des Machines Bull SA, Commission officials told Reuter: Competition Commissioner Van Miert intends to block the final $500m or so of subventions, and plans to widen the official inquiry into the financing of Bull to cover funds totalling some $2,000m; the Commission discovered in December that the government and state-owned France Telecom had gone ahead with cash injections into Bull without the necessary advance approval from Van Miert and the Commission, which is furious that it has still not received any restructuring plan to justify the vast state subsidies to a company not commercially viable.
