EU, accused of bias, opens tax probe into French utility

European Union regulators stand accused of unfairly targeting American companies in a series of inquiries. So with the region's antitrust chief visiting the United States this week, the bloc's officials said on Monday that they were investigating whether a French company signed a sweetheart tax deal with Luxembourg.

The inquiry into the French utility Engie is at an early stage and officials gave no estimates of the amount of taxes the company potentially owed. Still, the investigation could help Margrethe Vestager, Europe's competition commissioner, rebut allegations of bias as she begins her meetings in the United States on Monday. Vestager last month ordered Ireland to collect up to 13 billion euros, or $14.5 billion, in taxes from Apple as part of a crackdown on favourable tax deals with global multinationals.

European authorities are also investigating Amazon, McDonald's and other companies in multiple areas. The move against Apple prompted anger in Washington, where officials said Vestager was too focused on American companies.

Ricardo Cardoso, a spokesman for Vestager, told a news conference on Monday that the timing of the announcement was not related to her trip to the United States to meet with American officials, and that her investigations also involved many European companies.

Last year, Vestager ordered Luxembourg to claim up to €30 million in taxes from a unit of the Italian carmaker Fiat. She has also ordered Belgium to recover significant sums of taxes from a number of companies including the brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is based in Leuven, Belgium.

Even so, American companies are a major focus for Vestager.

She has previously issued orders to the Netherlands to collect up to €30 million in taxes from Starbucks, and she still is investigating whether Luxembourg gave favourable tax treatment to McDonald's and Amazon.

In the case of Engie, a utility formerly known as GDF Suez and which is part-owned by the French state, officials said Luxembourg may have given the company an "unfair advantage over other companies."

In particular, the commission said transactions within the Engie group inside Luxembourg had allowed it to reduce its tax burden. That would be a violation of rules against unfair state aid to favoured companies, it said.

In a statement, the Luxembourg finance ministry said there had been "no special tax treatment or selective advantage" awarded to Engie.

TAX HEAT

• The inquiry into the French utility Engie is at an early stage and officials gave no estimates of the amount of taxes the company potentially owed
   
• Last year, Vestager ordered Luxembourg to claim up to Euro 30 million in taxes from a unit of the Italian carmaker Fiat
   
• She has previously issued orders to the Netherlands to collect up to €Euro 30 million in taxes from Starbucks

©2016 The New York Times News Service