WRITTEN QUESTION E-0111/02

by Sami Naïr (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Usinor merger involving closure of French plant at Biache Saint-Vaast

The Usinor Group is at present embarking on a merger process which will result in the closure of an efficient production plant at Biache Saint-Vaast, France. The closure will have a particularly serious effect on employment, with the loss of 440 jobs.

Will the Commission therefore state whether the proposed merger is compatible with the administrative and competition rules in force within the EU?

Will it also state whether the Usinor Group, which is both partner and player in the deal, has received any public aid under European programmes during the last 15 years? If so, precisely how much, and under precisely what conditions?

Given that Usinor's strategy involves the closure of a major production plant in an area which is already severely affected by unemployment, what means does the Commission have for demanding that any such aid received by the company be repaid?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2002)

The Commission was notified of the planned merger involving the steel producers Usinor and Arbed/Aceralia on 16 June 2001, in accordance with Article 66 of the ECSC Treaty and the Regulation on the control of concentrations(1). Following an in-depth study, the Commission authorised the merger on 21 November 2001, subject to a number of commitments. These commitments did not refer to any plant closures, but rather to the transfer of a number of steel production and distribution undertakings. Certain obligations were attached to these transfers, so as to safeguard in full the present and future economic viability and competitiveness of the undertakings transferred in the context of the accepted commitments. The Commission will ensure that the parties maintain the viability and competitiveness of these undertakings prior to transfer and that the purchasers are themselves viable undertakings with the financial resources, expertise and motivation needed to maintain and develop their activities and market presence. Nevertheless, the Commission does not in principle have any authority with regard to possible restructuring within the new group following the merger.

Concerning the granting of Community aid to the Usinor Group, the Commission reminds the Honourable Member that, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Member States are responsible both for the selection of projects and the implementation and management of programmes that are part-financed by the Structural Funds.

According to the information received from the French authorities, no aid from the European Regional Development Fund has been given to the production site at Biache Saint-Vaast.

As regards the repayment of aid received from the Structural Funds during the previous programming periods, the Commission makes the point that in as far as projects have been duly implemented and wound up on the basis of the Community legislation in force there is no mechanism for recovering assistance granted.

Concerning the present programming period (2000-2006), both the guidelines on national regional aid(2) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds(3) now make the granting of Community aid subject to the assets invested or jobs created being maintained for a period of five years.

The Usinor Group has benefited from research programme funding for projects involving multiple partners. The funding of such projects is strictly linked to their technological and scientific benefits. The recovery of any advance payments is possible only where the project participants have not complied with the contract terms.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (OJ L 395, 30.12.1989; corrigendum: OJ L 257, 21.9.1990).

(2) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998.

(3) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.