WRITTEN QUESTION E-0933/00

by Helmuth Markov (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 March 2000)

Subject: Commission investigations against the German Land of Thuringia

1. What investigation procedures in connection with subsidies under EU programmes and directives have been or are being carried out by the Commission against the Land of Thuringia, and when did these begin?

2. What has been the outcome of the investigations under competition law which have already been completed? What is the financial scope of the procedures under investigation, and into what particular areas can they be broken down?

3. Has the Land government been involved in the investigation process or informed about the outcome, and have any specific demands for changes on specific matters been made? If so, when, and on what matters?

4. What are the possible consequences for the Land of Thuringia, and what is the Commission's assessment of these?

5. Which investigation procedures have not yet been completed, when is this likely to happen and to what matters do they relate?

6. Is there a need to alter the customary procedures for the implementation of EU programmes and directives in Thuringia; if so, which, and in which areas?

Supplementary answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2000)

1. The operational programmes under the Structural Funds have been in place in the Land of Thuringia since 29 March 1991. These programmes are examined on the basis of the regulations governing the implementation of the Structural Funds, particularly those provisions on evaluation. This is an ongoing process which covers the entire financial package involved.

As one of its activities implementing the European Social Fund the Commission carried out monitoring visits to Germany (as to the other Member States), including a visit to Thuringia. Following one of these monitoring visits the German authorities agreed, in 1999, to waive their entitlement to non-eligible expenditure under an ESF programme managed by Thuringia's Ministry of Culture. This non-eligible expenditure totalled some 5,7 million.

2. Investigations carried out under Community competition law in Thuringia were part of the monitoring process for state aid.

As regards industry, in 1999 and 2000 the Commission decided to recover aid of DEM 34 750 000 granted to the Triptis Porzellan company, operating in the household articles and porcelain sector, aid of DEM 36 860 000 granted to the Weida Leder company, active in the leather sector, and aid of DEM 13 850 000 granted to the Korn Fahrzeuge company (agricultural technology, purchase and sale of commercial vehicles and trucks, and environmental technology). On the other hand, aid of DEM 9 100 000 was granted to the Everts Erfurt company (rubber and latex products sector).

In the agricultural sphere, about fifty schemes have been or are currently being investigated, many of which involve aid for rescuing and restructuring. As regards pending notifications, the Commission may approve the measures or initiate proceedings pursuant to Article 88 (ex-Article 93) (2) of the EC Treaty. Moreover, the Commission twice initiated proceedings pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in cases involving state aid for the processing and placing on the market of agricultural products. Final decisions have not yet been reached on these two cases. Following a request from the German authorities, the amount of aid granted is treated as confidential information. Generally speaking, it is not possible to determine the total amount of finance to the agricultural sector from all of the measures under investigation.

3. The Honourable Member appears to be referring to the verification of both the procedures for the granting of Structural Funds subsidies and the procedures for investigating state aid. As regards the Structural Funds, the Commission would point out that it is responsible for assessing the use of subsidies granted from these Community Funds: this assessment is carefully monitored by the Court of Auditors.

The Member States and, for regional programmes, the regions receive official notification of the outcome of these assessments, and must then give an opinion on these.

As regards state aid, the Member State concerned (the Federal German authorities, in the case in point) is the only partner involved in discussions with the Commission. Several letters have been written to the German authorities about the above-mentioned cases. As to any potential involvement of the Thuringia authorities in investigating the procedures and their findings, we should point out that the Commission is not aware of the division of responsibilities between the federal authorities and this Land.

4. The Honourable Member would also appear to be referring to the procedures covering the granting of subsidies under the Structural Funds as well as to those covering the investigation of state aid.

As regards Structural Funds subsidies to Thuringia, we have not, from 1991 to date, considered any reimbursement of Community financing to be necessary.

Investigations into state aid result in such aid being authorised or prohibited. In the latter case, the aid must be recovered if it has already been paid out. The Member State has to take the necessary steps to recover such aid from the companies involved.

5. The results of the mid-term evaluation of the 1994-1999 programming period of the Structural Funds will, in particular, affect programming for the period 2000-2006. The next mid-term evaluation is scheduled for 2003. The ex-post evaluation for the 1994-1999 period can only take place once expenditure for the projects of this period has closed, i.e. in principle after 31 December 2001.

As regards state aid to the agricultural sector, as mentioned above, about ten cases are currently being studied, including two cases in which the procedure set out in Article 88 (2) of the EC Treaty has been invoked (C 32/99 and C 73/99), both involving state aid to two companies active in the processing and placing on the market of agricultural products. A final decision concerning these two lots of state aid is expected to be taken during the second half of this year. As regards state aid to industry, the Commission has initiated proceedings pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty against several schemes, particularly certain activities of the Thüringer Industriebeteiligungsgesellschaft, the Thüringer Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft, the Thüringer Konsolidierungsprogramm (1993-1996),

the Thüringer Darlehnsprogramm, the Thüringer Umlaufmittelprogramm (1993-1996) and the Thüringer KMU-Investitionssicherungsprogramm (before 1997). Proceedings pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty have also been initiated in several cases where individual aid was granted to industrial companies. Since investigations are ongoing in all of these cases, it is difficult to say exactly when they will be closed.

6. As regards the Structural Funds, the Thuringia operational programme for the period 2000-2006 has not yet been approved by the Commission, but will be in the near future. The programme itself will be required to define its implementation methods in order to fulfil the obligations established by new Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds(1). It is therefore not possible at present to determine the extent to which changes will have to be made to existing procedures.

Finally, the issue of whether Thuringia must alter the procedures normally used for the transposition of Community Directives is an entirely internal matter. In fact, the Community may not become involved in the division of responsibilities between a Member State and its federal regions. Moreover, the Commission does not have the means to examine the conditions under which Directives are transposed in any given region of a Member State.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.