WRITTEN QUESTION E-0866/01

by John McCartin (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 March 2001)

Subject: State aid Ireland - Public broadcasting

On 13 April 2000, I raised a question regarding a State aid complaint made against the Irish Government in March 1999 in respect of the payment of a television licence fee to RTE, the public service broadcaster. In a letter of reply dated 19 September 2000, the Commissioner responsible indicated that its services have performed a preliminary assessment of it, concluding that it is, prima facie, grounded and deserves further in-depth analysis. What progress, if any, has been made in respect of this important complaint? Does the Commission believe it is satisfactory for two years to have elapsed since the complaint was lodged and no decision to have emerged from the Commission?

Secondly, RTE, the public service broadcaster, has made an application for an increase of 71 % in the current licence fee. The Minister responsible for broadcasting has indicated that a recommendation on this application will be brought before the Irish Government soon. Is the Commission aware that such an increase has been applied for? Without pre-judging whether or not the Commission believes the licence fee or any proposed increase thereto constitutes respectively a justifiable State aid or justifiable altered State aid,

respectively, does it believe it appropriate that any proposal to increase the fee should be notified to the Commission, as required under the Treaty's State aid rules? Does the Commission believe that any decision by the Irish Government to approve such an increase should be postponed until such time as the Commission has had the opportunity to examine the proposal and taken a decision to authorise a proportionate increase, if that were found to be consistent with Treaty rules?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 2001)

As pointed out by the Honourable Member, the Member of the Commission responsible for Competition indicated in 2000 that the Commission concluded that the complaint lodged against the payment of a television licence fee to RTE deserved further in-depth analysis.

Public service broadcasting is a very complex area where the Commission has to reach a balanced solution that will guarantee both the Member State's right to provide public service broadcasting and the right of private operators to fair competition. In order to ensure certainty for all operators the Commission is actively working on a draft of a Commission Communication, which will hopefully be presented soon. The Communication will set out the principles the Commission will adhere to in applying Articles 87, 88 and Article 86 (ex Articles 92, 93 and 90), paragraph 2 of the EC Treaty to state funding of public service broadcasting. This will clarify the Commission's policy in this highly complex area, allowing an assessment of the cases in full transparency.

With a view to assuring an even handed approach, priority has been given to preparing this Communication and deepen the case analysis in a comparative perspective. The analysis of complaints in this field, including the complaint about the licence fee to RTE, will be finalised after the adoption of the Communication.

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for the information on the application of RTE for an increase of 71 % in the current licence fee. The Commission is closely following these developments. With regard to the questions on the obligation to notify the Commission of an increase in the licence fee, the Commission would like to refer to Article 88(3) EC where the obligations are laid down for Member States to notify the Commission of new aid or alterations to existing aid. In this respect the Commission would also like to draw attention to the Judgement of the Court of Justice in the Namur-Ducroire case(1). In this case the Court ruled that Article 93(3) [now article 88(3)] of the Treaty is to be interpreted as meaning that enlargement, in circumstances such as those described in the referred judgement, of the field of activity of a public establishment which is in receipt of aid granted by the State under legislation predating the entry into force of the Treaty cannot, where it does not affect the system of aid established by that legislation, be regarded as constituting the granting or alteration of aid which is subject to the obligation of prior notification and the prohibition on putting aid into effect laid down by that provision.

(1) Judgement of the Court of Justice of 9 August 1994 in case C-44/93 (Namur-Ducroire) - Jurisprudence 1994, p. I-3829.