WRITTEN QUESTION E-0978/02

by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Commission

(12 April 2002)

Subject: Approval of state aid for cableway installations in Italy and Austria

The Commission announced in a press release of 27 February 2002 that it has approved state aid for cableway installations in Italy and Austria. According to the Commission, aid is justified because the installations are intended for purely local use and will not attract any users who are not resident in the area.

1. What led the Commission to conclude that the ski lifts in Austria and Italy are intended exclusively for local use?

2. Are there any studies, reports, working documents or similar information which helped the Commission to reach its decision?

3. Is the Commission now prepared to provide the report (or any parts of such a report presently available) requested in Written Question E-3179/01 of 7 November 2001? If not, why not?

4. Can the Commission further provide me with all the documents used in reaching its decision?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(6 June 2002)

1. In general, the Commission believes that not all cableway installation should be assessed in an identical way, but that a distinction should be made between cableways destined to satisfy the generic transport needs

of the population and cableways supporting sport activities. Among the latter, a further distinction has to be drawn between those that are capable of attracting users that have installations of other Member States as an alternative and those that are mainly destined to local use.

In the case concerning aid to cableway installations in Austria (case N860/01), no adequate elements have been forwarded to allow to conclude that the resort would fall into the category of purely local use facilities. Therefore, the Commission had to conclude that the measures constituted aid in the meaning of Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty, which, however, was found compatible in view of its limited aid intensity.

In the decision concerning aid to cableway installations in Italy (case N376/01), it was accepted that support to certain installations that were for local use would not be capable of affecting trade between Member States. This, however, did not concern all installations, but only some of them. In other cases it was concluded that an effect on trade was present and that aid could be justified only in view of its limited intensity.

2. To reach its decision the Commission has consulted various data on tourism and cableway installations that is available from different sources. No single study or report constituted the decisive base for the decision, nor, to the Commission's knowledge, comprehensive statistical data on users of cableways per country of origin and place of destination is available. It can be mentioned, however, that the Italian authorities have presented copy of a study titled Imprese turistiche e competitività Le caratteristiche della produzione delle imprese turistiche and a report of Professor Carlo Eugenio Baldi of the University of Bologna, both presented at the seminar on Aiuti al turismo e regole di concorrenza held on 8 November 2000, at the premises of the Parliament. A copy will be sent to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament's secretariat.

3. As regards the report requested in Written Question E-3179/01 by the Honourable Member(1) of 7 November 2001, the Commission can only repeat what already replied at the time, i.e. that no report as such has been established.

4. It would be impossible to provide copy of all the electronic data and documents consulted by the Commission through the Internet in order to gain a better knowledge of the sector.

(1) OJ C 229 E, 26.9.2002, p. 6.