Coca-Cola blocks investment in France over new tax

Associated Press

PARIS — Coca-Cola has suspended plans for a (euro) 17 million ($24 million) investment in France to protest a tax on sugary sodas that’s part of an austerity budget aimed at shrinking the country’s huge debts.

Tristan Faradet, head of Coca-Cola Enterprise, which markets the company’s drinks in France, says the investment in the factory in Pennes-Mirabeau in southern France is on hold pending parliament’s debate on the tax.

Faradet says Coca-Cola is ready to participate in austerity efforts but that the tax is unfair because it targets drinks that are “not harmful to health.”

The government says the tax will raise (euro) 120 million. It’s part of a multibillion package of spending cuts and tax increases.

The lower house of parliament adopted the bill Wednesday. It heads to a Senate vote Thursday.