The bond markets stayed calm on Wednesday in the wake of the decision by the European Commission that Electricité de France (EdF), the state-controlled energy utility, must repay €1.2bn ($1.5bn) in French state tax subsidies.

One European utilities analyst said: "It's a large sum of money, but not especially large for EdF. This is a company with a potential market capitalisation of €50bn - and this is a tiny percentage of that amount."