WRITTEN QUESTION P-0126/03

by Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(21 January 2003)

Subject: Funding by the Italian State and the Campania Regional Government of the programme contract presented by Agrifuturo S.c.a.r.l.

A programme contract concerning 37 investment initiatives, presented by Agrifuturo S.c.a.r.l. for a total of EUR 118 425 640, has been approved by the Italian State (Decision of the Interministerial Economic Planning Committee (CIPE) of 28.03.02) and the Campania Regional Government (Decision No 1479 of 30 March 2001), with an overall contribution of EUR 75 752 640 (63,97 % of the total) being made available in public funding.

Could the Commission indicate whether:

- the contract approved conforms to the CIPE Decision of 25 February 1994 and subsequent amendments and additions thereto, which lays down that programme contracts are business instruments available to SMEs intending to pursue a programme of integrated and cohesive investments in a district or sector or branch of industry, when in the case in point the programme contract envisages measures in areas (seven interventions in the spheres of food preparation, cake and biscuit making, meat products, etc.) that can scarcely be viewed as belonging to the same sector as the central component of the said contract programme, which is to say the tomato tinning industry;

- the investments in the tomato tinning and meat industries that have been envisaged and financed might foster the conditions for an increase in productive capacity and whether such an increase is allowable and conforms to current regulations and CAP rules;

- the rate of state aid (63,97 %) conforms to Community rules governing aid schemes.

If significant non-compliance with or infringement of the Community regulations referred to above is detected, what steps will the Commission take with regard to Italy and the Campania Regional Government?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(14 February 2003)

The Commission has no knowledge of the investment project presented by Agrifuturo S.c.a.r.l. but will immediately contact the Italian authorities to clarify the situation. Given this lack of information it cannot properly reply at the moment to the Honourable Member's first two questions.

On the question of whether the aid rate of 63,97 % is in line with Community rules on State aid, two possibilities have to be taken into consideration:

- If the project comprises purely physical investments for which the expenditure eligible for aid corresponds to that indicated in point 4.2.3 of the Community guidelines for State aid in the agriculture sector(1) the aid rate is indeed too high. Point 4.2.3 restricts it to 50 % of eligible expenditure in Objective 1 regions, of which Campania is one.

- On the other hand if the project includes other eligible expenditure, e.g. on technical assistance, it will have to be checked what proportion of total project cost this accounts for, since the aid for this expenditure may alter the overall aid rate for the project. At present, as stated above, the Commission does not yet have the information it needs to do this.

On action to be taken when the Community State aid provisions are not observed, the procedure is as follows. If it appears that a Member State has not complied with the rules the Commission opens the examination procedure indicated in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty. The Member State then has one

month in which to present its arguments for compatibility of the planned aid scheme with the common market and interested third parties are invited by a notice published in the Official Journal to submit their observations (these are forwarded to the Member State so that it can comment on them). Article 7(6) of Regulation (EC) No 659/99(2) requires the Commission to make every effort to take a decision within 18 months of opening the procedure. The decision can find the aid compatible, incompatible or conditionally compatible.

(1) OJ C 232, 12.8.2000.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty, OJ L 83, 27.3.1999.