On 21 May 2010, the General Court annulled a decision of the European Commission which had earlier concluded that certain statements, made by the French Minister of the Economy in 2002 indicating that the Government was considering making a shareholder loan to France Telecom (FT), constituted illegal State aid. The Court found that the statements did confer a financial advantage on FT because they influenced the ratings agencies and therefore the image of FT in the eyes of investors and creditors. However, that financial advantage did not entail any transfer of State resources either directly or indirectly. Consequently, one of the limbs of the test for a measure to be classified as State aid was not met. In the Court’s view the statements were open, imprecise and conditional. Moreover, they were never acted upon.