State aids, subventions to local champions or beauty contests favoring national firms through "hidden criteria" are prevalent and are scrutinized by competition authorities. Two recent examples follow.
- Prefence given to national bidders, even if their bid was inferior to those of competitors: bid for state-owned nuclear group Areva in France where Alstom and Schneider Electric won against GE and Toshiba. See areva bid.pdf
- France Telecom recently lost another appeal European courts against the Euroepan Commission for repayment of €1bn of state aid given by the French government between 1994-2002; see france telecom state aid.pdf
