The TF1 group has filed a complaint with the European Commission for “illegal state aid” from France in favor of France Télévisions, it told AFP on Monday evening, confirming information from Le Figaro.
“Community law protects the financing of public services but the rule is formal: clearly defined obligations are necessary to claim this financing,” indicate Frédéric Mion and Benoît Le Bret, associate lawyers within the Gide firm, in charge of the file, in everyday life.
The abolition of the TV license fee, currently replaced by the allocation of a fraction of VAT, is at the heart of TF1's argument.
“This change in financing arrangements decided by the legislator constitutes new state aid.
In principle, it must be notified to the European Commission before its implementation.
Otherwise, it is illegal,” assure Mes Mion and Le Bret in the newspaper.
A “double tax fraud”
The complaint also denounces “double tax fraud”.
“France Télévisions' new method of financing has required it to pay a tax on salaries since 2022.
Tax that the State would compensate illegally under European law, by increasing the budgetary allocation allocated to the public service,” assures Le Figaro.
For TF1's lawyers, the public service has also "benefited, since 1969, from a very reduced VAT regime (2.1% instead of 20%) which allowed it to escape the payroll tax to which he should have been subject,” continues the daily.
According to the latter, Brussels “has just notified France, which has four weeks to respond”.
If the Commission “then decides to open a procedure, it will have eighteen months to investigate it and deliver its conclusions,” concludes Le Figaro.