Huge phone bill for France Telecom

Brussels finds itself on another collision course with Paris after it ruled yesterday that France Telecom must repay up to 1.1 billion euros gained in illegal state aid.

After a year-long investigation, the Commission decided that the company must pay back between 800 million euro and 1.1 billion euro in taxes on which it was granted breaks by the French government between 1994 and 2002.

These tax breaks were intended to help out the company, which had run up huge debts while bi...