WRITTEN QUESTION P-2449/00 by Ulrich Stockmann (PSE) to the Commission. State aid notification procedures in the new Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Date: 2000-07-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, German Democratic Republic, Germany, control of State aid, economic concentration, industrial restructuring, job cuts, privatisation

C 113 E/98

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

Exchanges of view on these issues take place on a regular basis and at different levels with the Turkish
authorities. Lately, this was the case during the visits to Turkey of the Commissioner responsible for
Employment (22-24 June 2000) and the Commissioner responsible for Enlargement (13/14 July 2000).

The Commission is also in dialogue with international organisations, non-governmental organizations and
others to discuss developments in Turkey.

(2001/C 113 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2443/00

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(19 July 2000)

Subject: Linking Galicia with the Peninsular and the rest of Europe by high speed train

The President of the Xunta de Galiza, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, recently publicly announced that he had
signed an agreement with the Spanish Minister of Public Works, Francisco `lvarez Cascos, on the building
of a (cid:145)high yield(cid:146) rail link, to be co-funded by the European Union, linking the cities of Galicia with Madrid
via Valladolid in the year 2006.

Does this decision form part of the Community Support Framework which the Commission agreed with
the Spanish Government for the 2000-2006 period? Is this to be a high-speed link, like those which
already exist and those planned for the links with the south and the Mediterranean part of the Iberian
Peninsula? What budget has been allocated, and what annual programming do the investments to be made
come under?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(6 October 2000)

Following negotiations with the Spanish authorities the Commission is now finalising the Community
support framework for the Objective I Spanish regions, which include Galicia, for 2000-2006.

The CSF does not itemise projects to be financed during this programming period. It is too soon therefore
to say anything precise about the projects that will be selected for inclusion in the CSF operational
programmes.

It should however be said that the Commission and the Spanish authorities consider improvement of rail
links between the main cities of Galicia and Valladolid to be one of the transport infrastructure priorities
for the period.

(2001/C 113 E/099)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2449/00

by Ulrich Stockmann (PSE) to the Commission

(11 July 2000)

Subject: State aid notification procedures in the new L(cid:228)nder of the Federal Republic of Germany

At the beginning of June 2000, the SKL-M undertaking in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, was
forced to file a petition in bankruptcy because MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH withdrew the take-over bid
which it had made within the context of reprivatisation when it became known that the European
Commission intended to include the planned asset deal in the formal investigation procedure. MTU GmbH
was no longer prepared to wait the necessary time until the formal investigation procedure had ended. The
bankruptcy petition directly endangers 275 jobs at SKL-M and 1 700 other jobs with SKL-M(cid:146)s suppliers.

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/99

As a result of the process of transforming the economy of the former GDR, there are 15 other notification
procedures pending from the federal Land of Saxony-Anhalt alone, and more than 50 from all the new
German L(cid:228)nder, including Berlin. According to my information, 30 000 jobs are at risk in the undertakings
concerned, including their suppliers.

Can the Commission say what improvements it believes could be made to speed up the handling of the
notification procedures and to ensure that in future the Commission(cid:146)s discretionary decisions, such as the
decision to include the asset deal in the formal investigation procedure into SKL-M, are taken with a view
to preserving jobs?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(13 September 2000)

For almost ten years the new L(cid:228)nder have been undergoing economic reorganisation. The Commission has
so far always shown a benevolent understanding for their special situation. It has also shown this through
its unreserved support, particularly for the interests of the employees, notably through the European Social
Fund.

This was expressed first and foremost through the creation of a special task force, which deals exclusively
with state aid cases in the new L(cid:228)nder. Since it was set up it has processed more than 180 cases, of which
130 so far have had decisions in their favour given by the Commission, with only a dozen or so negative
decisions.

Until 1996 there were special rules governing the scrutiny of this state aid, the so-called Treuhand regimes.
These exempted undertakings in the new L(cid:228)nder from the notification requirement up to a certain
threshold. In practice, the generous terms of these rules meant that few cases of planned aid had to be
notified.

What is particularly important for assessing state aid cases in the new L(cid:228)nder are the guidelines for rescue
and restructuring aid in favour of companies in difficulty.

The Commission(cid:146)s particular understanding for the interests of the new L(cid:228)nder can be seen particularly in
cases in which a single undertaking is repeatedly awarded reconstruction aid under the so-called
(cid:145)Auffangl(cid:246)sung(cid:146), something which is normally unacceptable under the standard state aid rules. It should
be noted that this more flexible procedure continues to exist also in the altered version of the guidelines
for rescue and restructuring aid for 1999. However, a time limit was also set for this exception in view of
the changed economic and political framework conditions in Germany.

The Commission is aware that the German authorities are concerned about the length of the procedure.
However, the swift processing of a case also depends on the necessary information being made available
promptly and being complete and accurate. If the Commission is to act rapidly, it is particularly important
in the case of rescue and restructuring aid that the Member States should notify the planned aid and
provide all the relevant information as soon as it is available. The Commission would be in a position to
devote more resources to the notified cases if less time was spent on finding and dealing with state aid
awarded by the Member States without notifying the Commission.

In the SKL-M case, the Commission would draw attention to the long history of the case, which has made
it considerably more difficult to evaluate individual state aid measures. MTU had originally intended to buy
the SKL-M shares as part of a second restructuring. This plan was subsequently discarded in favour of an
asset deal. Because of the complexity and the particular circumstances of this case there was no other
option except to initiate proceedings under Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty. The asset deal must be included
in these proceedings, since it is impossible to conduct a separate assessment of the SKL-M restructuring
plan. The Commission generally initiates a full investigation in cases in which it still has doubts, following
the preliminary investigation, about the compatibility of the aid with the common market.