The general part of the text of the letter addressed to each Member State is set out below for general information. Indeed the extent of the tendency towards nonnotification or late notification would appear in some cases to indicate the possible existence of a general decision not to respect the provisions in question. The Commission is aware that, particularly in the recent past, Governments have frequently been under extreme pressure to intervene in the normal commercial processes by means of subsidies and that the number of cases which are subject to the notification procedure has grown as a consequence. However, the Treaty established these aid procedures for a wellfounded reason which, in principle, is supported by all concerned, namely that one firm's subsidy may be the unemployment of another's workforce. Repeatedly in the course of its examination of aid cases the Commission is made aware how much competitors resent the granting of subsidies to firms in other Member States.
Governments are no less critical of the subsidies granted by others.
Henceforth, any evidence of a tendency to systematic or flagrant violation of Member States' obligations will be systematically pursued by virtue of Article 169 of the Treaty or other measures envisaged therein.