WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2931/97 by Sérgio RIBEIRO to the Commission. Suspension of Portuguese state aid to EPAC, PLC
Date: 1997-09-17
Institutions: European Parliament, RIBEIRO
Subjects: Portugal, State aid, control of State aid, harbour installation, privatisation, public limited company, suspension of aid

30. 4. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134/37

The proposals for (cid:145)Nature(cid:146) were evaluated by the Commission and the result of this evaluation approved by the
Habitats committee which is made up of representatives of the Member States and chaired by the Commission. In
total 62 out of the 174 proposals received an Community contribution.

In  the  sector  (cid:145)Environment(cid:146)  514  proposals  were  received  of  which  25  were  from  the  Netherlands,  which
corresponds to 4.86% of the total number of proposals received. The 25 (cid:145)Environment(cid:146) projects presented by the
Netherlands have a total cost of 65.59 MECU for which a total Community contribution of 14.17 MECU was
requested.  The  Community  contribution  requested  by  the  Dutch  projects  corresponded  to  5.2%  of  the  total
Community  contribution  requested  by  all  proposals.  The  Netherlands  had  seven  projects  selected,  which
corresponds  to  6.25  %  of  the  total  number  of  selected  proposals  and  9.1%  of  the  total  1997  Community
contribution for (cid:145)Environment(cid:146).

The (cid:145)Environment(cid:146) proposals were subject to an evaluation procedure in which representatives of the Member
States, a panel of external experts and experts of the Commission apply independently a series of commonly
agreed criteria to assess the merit of the proposals. On the basis of the results of this evaluation procedure, and in
function of the funding available, 112 of the most meriting European projects were presented for the approval of
the LIFE (cid:145)Environment(cid:146) management committee which is made up of representatives of the Member States and
the Commission. Details on the chosen Dutch projects are sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the
Secretariat General of the Parliament.

(98/C 134/43)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2931/97

by Se·rgio Ribeiro (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 September 1997)

Subject: Suspension of Portuguese state aid to EPAC, PLC

The Commission(cid:146)s decision of 30 April to demand that the Portuguese Government suspend its aid to EPAC
evinces an inflexible interpretation of Article 93(2) and (3) which, if consistently applied, would put an end to
many other situations far more deserving of such an application, such as the recent collateral securities given to
the Mello Group and others.

It is significant that no reference is made anywhere in the explanation for the decision to the fact that EPAC(cid:146)s port
installations had been handed over to SILOPOR, as part of the privatization process, without the outstanding debt
being included in the handover; EPAC continues to be responsible for the interest on the loans contracted for the
construction of the installations.

Did the Commission take this fact into account, and if not, should it not do so, if only to avoid contributing to a
process of (cid:145)decapitalization(cid:146) with very serious consequences for workers who bear no responsibility whatever for
either the management or the privatization process as carried out?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(28 October 1997)

By Commission Decision of 30 April 1997 (1) the Portuguese Government was asked to suspend the aid in the
form  of  a  state  guarantee  granted  to  the  firm  Empresa  Para  a  Agroalimenta(cid:231)a(cid:152)o  e  Cereais  SA  (EPAC).  This
decision, under the state aid examination procedure provided for by Articles 92 to 94 of the EC Treaty, was a
provisional one resulting from the fact that the guarantee was granted before the Commission was able to express
an opinion on it, in contravention of Article 93(3) of the Treaty.

The Commission, in its Decision of 9 July 1997, adopted a final decision on the measures undertaken by the
Portuguese  Government  in  favour  of  EPAC,  these  having  been  deemed  illegal  and  incompatible  with  the
common market.

The facts referred to by the Honourable Member and all the information provided by the Portuguese authorities
on the links between EPAC and SILOPOR were taken into account in that final decision.

(1)  OJ L 186, 16.7.1997.