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(2004/C 84 E/0299)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3854/03

by Samuli Pohjamo (ELDR) to the Commission

(16 December 2003)

Subject:   Commission's plans for reforming State aid rules

The Commission is preparing a reform of the rules on State aid. Various challenges are associated with the reform, including not only those of taking account of the statistical consequences of the enlargement of the EU and preventing distortion of competition but also support for the objective of cohesion.

From the point of view of regional development and the objectives of regional policy, flexible rules on State aid are important.

What is the general tenor of the reform which the Commission is preparing? Will Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty be amended? Will subparagraph (a) remain unaltered? How will amendments to the article take account of the problems peculiar to sparsely populated areas of northern Europe, such as the cold climate and long distances and the consequent higher transport costs?

For example, when, as in northern Finland, a metre of ice is broken over a distance of between 500 and 1 000 km to enable merchant shipping to reach the open sea, this significantly increases GDP, but businesses incur substantially higher costs.

The guidelines on State aid restrict the scope for national aid mainly to Objective 1 regions. In addition, exceptions are permitted, inter alia, on account of sparse population.

How will the future reform take account of the fact that many Objective 1 regions in the current Member States will be reclassified as Objective 2 regions? Despite this fact, such regions, many of which are rural, need special measures to safeguard their competitiveness and prevent any continuation of the tendency towards centralisation and towards migration of populations to economically central areas. Will the Commission consider criteria for permitting State aid other than the classification of regions by objective and the GDP criterion used for that purpose?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(11 February 2004)

The Commission does not intend to propose any alterations to Article 87 of the EC Treaty.

As regards the Guidelines on national regional aid (1), the Commission decided on 2 April 2003 (2) to carry out a revision of those Guidelines in due course for the period after 2006, allowing Member States and the Commission time to draw up, notify and approve new regional aid maps.

With respect to the specific difficulties of the sparsely populated areas referred to by the Honourable Member, the Commission would draw his attention to the fact that the present Guidelines do contain specific provisions for those areas even where they are not eligible for the derogation in Article 87(3)a) of the EC Treaty. Pursuant to Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty higher investment aid intensities are allowed there than in other areas eligible for this derogation. The Guidelines, furthermore, allow transportation aid in these areas to cover the additional cost of transporting goods, and this despite the Commission's generally negative attitude towards operating aid.

The Honourable Member may rest assured that in the revision of the Guidelines, which is conducted in close co-operation with the Member States, the Commission will certainly again take into account the specific difficulties of sparsely populated areas.

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(1)OJ C 74, 10.3.1998 and OJ C 258, 9.9.2000.

(2)OJ C 110, 8.5.2003.

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