Electrabel, the Belgian subsidiary of French energy group GDF-Suez, will challenge a 250-million-euro windfall tax the government plans to impose on nuclear power generators, a spokesman said Wednesday.
"We will ask the Constitutional Court to annul this tax which we consider to be discriminatory and disproportionate," Electrabel spokesman Guy Dellicour told AFP.
The Belgian parliament passed a law on Friday that would force nuclear generators Electrabel and SPE-Luminus to contribute 250 million euros (350 million dollars) to the 2008 federal budget through a special tax.
"After the vote, we have 60 days to turn to the court," Dellicour said.
Energy Minister Paul Magnette has called for the tax on the grounds that investments in nuclear power stations have been recovered faster than expected, boosting company profit margins.
The government plans to keep the tax for the 2009 budget or possibly increase it as well.
Electrabel also risks a 750-million-euro fine — 50 percent of its revenues — for not having reduced its share of the Belgian electricity market to 50 percent from 70 percent currently, as it was supposed to do.
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