WRITTEN QUESTION E-2390/03 by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission. Government aid to German workers taking up jobs in Denmark.
Date: 2003-07-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, Germany, State aid, control of State aid, employment aid, restriction on competition

C 65 E/140

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

13.3.2004

Can the Commission provide a breakdown of appropriations by country? Can it also state what specific
actions have been financed and what monitoring arrangements are in place to ensure the proper operation
of the programme?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(17 September 2003)

The indicative allocation by beneficiary country of the maximum amount of the annual Community
contribution was set out in annex to the Commission Decision 1999/595/EC of 20 July 1999 (1). The
information concerning the breakdown of appropriations by country is available in the Sapard annual
report 2000 from the Commission to the Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee
and the Committee of the Regions. For each year from 2000 to 2003 the breakdown by country has been
made in accordance with the regulation described in Section 3.1 of that report, and annual financing
agreements concluded each year with every country set out
the maximum Community financial
commitment. For the year 2003, EUR 560 millions is allocated to the beneficiary countries.

As mentioned by the Honourable Member, the Sapard programme, contrary to the other pre-accession
instruments, is implemented on a decentralised basis, and so the Commission, is not involved in the choice
of the projects receiving support. The projects must however be consistent with the measures (‘actions’) in
the programme approved by the Commission which, as is the case with Member States, has the right to
obtain all relevant information in particular for purposes of control.

Concerning the monitoring system (Monitoring Committee, evaluations, monitoring indicators),
is
described in Section 5 of the Sapard report for 2001. The report 2002 is due to be transmitted to the
Parliament shortly.

it

Indicative allocation by beneficiary country of the maximum annual amount in 1999 prices:

Country

Hungary

Latvia

Slovenia

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Lithuania

Slovakia

Poland

Estonia

Romania

(euro)

Amount

38 054 000

21 848 000

6 337 000

52 124 000

22 063 000

29 829 000

18 289 000

168 683 000

12 137 000

150 636 000

(1) OJ L 226, 27.8.1999.

Total

520 000 000

(2004/C 65 E/155)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2390/03

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(21 July 2003)

Subject: Government aid to German workers taking up jobs in Denmark

On 20 March I put a question to the Commission (E-1225/03 (1)) concerning German government aid to
workers taking up jobs in other Member States. The Commission promised to investigate whether the
German subsidies contravened State aid rules.

13.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 65 E/141

The Danish Employment Minister, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, has since put a similar question to his German
colleague, the Minister for Economics and Labour, Wolfgang Clement. The German Minister replied that
the government subsidy of some DKK 60 an hour was solely intended for unemployed German workers
who obtained a job with a German firm.

is little comfort

This, however,
firms in southern Jutland as this
for the trade unions and small
arrangement does not preclude the possibility of German firms recruiting long-term unemployed German
workers and subsequently sending them to Denmark to carry out work for their German employers in
competition with Danish firms. Owing to the German government subsidy, therefore, Danish firms have to
pay a relatively higher wage than their German counterparts, which severely distorts competition and can
hardly be consistent with EU State aid rules.

Will the Commission, as promised in its answer to question E-1225/03, provide the information it has
received from the German authorities on this matter and investigate to what extent it is possible for
German firms to send German workers to Denmark to carry out specific jobs subsidised by the German
government?

(1) OJ C 58 E, 6.3.2004, p. 51.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(15 September 2003)

The Commission refers to its former reply to the Honourable Member’s Written Question E-1225/03.

As promised in its answer the Commission requested information from the German Authorities to this
respect on 8 May 2003. The German Authorities replied on 12 June 2003 that they were unaware of any
such aid scheme, but asked for additional information in order to be able to exclude any potential misuse
of aid schemes meant for a different purpose. This reply was provided to the Honourable Member by letter
of the Director of Directorate G ‘State Aid I’ of the Directorate General for Competition on 8 July 2003.
This letter also respectfully asked the Honourable Member to provide the Commission with any additional
information that might be at his disposal in order to allow the Commission to further investigate the
factual situation.

In this context, the Commission wishes to remind the Honourable Member that a number of employment
policy measures do not constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty because
they constitute aid to individuals that does not favour certain undertakings or the production of certain
goods, or because they do not affect trade between Member States, or because they are general measures to
promote employment which do not distort or threaten to distort competition by favouring certain
undertakings or the production of certain goods. Such general measures are therefore unaffected by State
aid rules. This is also the case for measures which are deemed not to meet all the criteria of Article 87(1)
of the EC Treaty and therefore do not fall under the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the EC
Treaty by virtue of Commission Regulation (EC) No 69/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of
Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid (1).

As regards the additional information given by the Honourable Member in his current written question,
the Commission will again request
the German Authorities to provide information on the specific
measures addressed by the Honourable Member and will assess them under State aid rules, in particular
under Commission Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002 of 12 December 2002 on the application of Articles 87
and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid for employment (2). If an infringement were to be found, the
Commission will take the necessary measures to bring it to an end.

The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that any specific information he can supply
regarding the precise facts at stake could considerably speed up its investigations.

(1) OJ L 10, 13.1.2001.
(2) OJ L 337, 13.12.2002 (corrigendum), OJ L 349, 24.12.2002.