WRITTEN QUESTION E-2485/99 by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission. Aid in connection with the permanent link across the Øresund Strait.
Date: 1999-12-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, Sweden, control of State aid, infringement of EU law, rail transport

C 374 E/4

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

28.12.2000

In the case of Portugal, an additional amount of EUR 30 million was granted under RETEX in 1993, a sum
already paid out in its entirety.

A list of projects part-financed in Portugal under RETEX is being sent to the Honourable Member and to
Parliament(cid:146)s General Secretariat.

(2000/C 374 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2485/99

by Karin Riis-Jłrgensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(16 December 1999)

Subject: Aid in connection with the permanent link across the (cid:216)resund Strait

In connection with the opening of the permanent link across the (cid:216)resund Strait, will the Commission say
whether the Danish and/or Swedish authorities have notified it of any government aid granted to their
respective rail administrations designed to reduce the price of train fares to the level of the current bridge
toll, i.e. a form of operational aid?

Will the Commission also say whether, in its view, national aid to cover a bridge toll for national rail
authorities distorts competition for shipping lines carrying passengers across the (cid:216)resund Strait? Does the
Commission believe that the above arrangements are consistent with the Treaty(cid:146)s provisions on the
granting of government aid?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(9 February 2000)

On 30 September 1998 the Danish authorities notified to the Commission a state aid scheme concerning
an environmental subsidy for the transport of goods by rail. The legal basis of the scheme is Danish Law
289 of 18 May 1998 laying down a legal framework for railway operations in Denmark and contains inter
alia provisions on payment of infrastructure charges for the use of the railway infrastructure and on the
provision of subsidies to railway undertakings for environmental reasons.

On 21 April 1999 the Commission found the notified aid scheme to be compatible with the common
market. In its decision the Commission took into account that the subsidy is significantly smaller than the
estimated unpaid external costs of road transport, that the aid scheme is open to any undertaking
transporting goods by rail and that it excludes transit traffic to safeguard the interests of maritime
transport, another environmentally friendly transport mode.

Any national measure relieving transport companies from charges in any form whatsoever can in principle
distort competition between transport modes and may fall under the state aid rules of the EC Treaty in so
far as it affects trade between Member States. More specifically, state support in favour of railways may
distort competition with ships or vice versa, when such support is granted on a market segment (on a
route) where rail and shipping are competing with each other.

In order to be able to evaluate the compatibility of such subsidy with the EC Treaty, the Commission must
be duly notified of such measures in accordance with Article 88(3) (ex Article 93) of the EC Treaty. It is
however not possible to provide an appropriate answer to this point without previous provision of all the
information necessary for such an assessment.