CELEX: 31975D0543
Language: en
Date: 1975-07-10 00:00:00
Title: 75/543/ECSC: Commission Decision of 10 July 1975 authorizing the French Republic to grant additional aids to coal mining undertakings in 1973 and authorizing the French Republic to grant aids to coal mining undertakings in 1974

10 . 9 . 75                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No L 238 / 1 7
                                                                II
                                           (Acts whose publication is not ob/igatoiy)
                                                    COMMISSION
                                                  COMMISSION DECISION
                                                         of 10 July 1975
               authorizing the French Republic to grant additional aids to coal mining under­
               takings in 1973 and authorizing the French Republic to grant aids to coal
                                                 mining undertakings in 1974
                                                (Only the French text is authentic)
                                                          (75/543/ ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                       ECSC (3 ) ; whereas that Decision authorized the aids
COMMUNITIES,                                                        which the French Government proposed to grant to
                                                                     the coal industry for 1 973 provided they had been
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                dealt with and examinded by the Commission in the
Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Articles                'Memorandum on additional financial aid awarded by
2, 3 , 4 and 5 thereof ;
                                                                     Member States to the coal industry in 1972 and finan­
Having regard to Commission Decision No 3/71 /                       cial aid awarded by Member States in 1 973 ' (4 ) ;
ECSC (') of 22 December 1970 on Community rules
for interventions by Member States for the benefit of                Whereas, as was stated in that Memorandum (5 ), the
the coal industry ;                                                  French Government proposed to grant FF 1 323-0
                                                                     million of aid under Decision No 3 / 71 / ECSC to Char­
 Having regard to Decision No 73/287/ ECSC (2) of 25                 bonnages de France ; whereas this sum included FF
July 1973 on coking coal and coke, and in particular                 110-9 million of aid in respect of coking coal ;
Article 9 ( 1 ) thereof ;
 Having consulted the Council ;                                      Whereas the French Government in a written applica­
                                                                     tion dated 15 February 1974 requests permission to
Whereas on 16 October 1974 the Commission of the                     alter or to increase the aids originally proposed as
 European Communities issued Decision No 74/ 615/                    follows :
                                                                     (j ) OJ No L 335 , 14 . 12 . 1974, p . 40 .
(') 0 | No L 3 , 5 . 1 . 1971 , p . 7 .                              (-4 ) Doc . SEC ( 74) 1377 fin ., p . 11 / 70 .
(-) OÌ No L 259, 15. 9 . 1973, p. 41 .                               (*) Doc . SEC (74) 1 377 fin ., p . 11 / 78 .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 238 / 18                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                                          10 . 9 . 75
                                                                                                                                      (in FF million)
                                                                                       Original             Additional
                                                                                                                                       Total
                                                                                      amounts                amounts
                1 . To cover operating losses sustained :
                     (a) by the coalfields (')                                          932 1                 154-9                  1 087-0
                      (b) by the central administration                                 125.0                    4-5                    129-5
                      (c) overall                                                     1 057-1                 159-4                  1 216-5
               2. To cover exceptional conversion costs                                 155-0                   37-0                    192-0
                                                                   Total              1 212-1                 196-4                  1 408-5
               ( 1 ) Exclusive of aid in respect of coking coal but including aid in respect of coal for power stations (FF 74.0 million).
               "Whereas the aid to cover operating losses is to be apportioned as follows among the indi­
               vidual coalfields :
                                                                                                                                      fin FF million)
                                                                Nord /                                        Centre-
                                                                                       Lorraine                                         Total
                                                             Pas-de-Calais                                     Midi
               Original amounts                                   436-8                212-9                  282-4                     932-1
               Additional amounts                            —      26-4                 37-8                 143-5                     154-9
                                              Total               410-4                250-7                  425-9                  1 087-0
Whereas the overall amount of aid to the French coal                                    Whereas, as regards the avoidance of serious economic
industry in 1973 is thus increased by FF 196-4                                          and social disturbances in certain regions of France,
million ;                                                                                the criteria for the appraisal of an increase in the aids
                                                                                        to cover operating losses are basically the same as
                                                                                         those already set out in the Commission Decision of
Whereas      the       increase       in    French       aids     to    cover            16 October 1974 (2) whereas the same regional and
operating losses relates only to the Lorraine and                                        social problems continue to exist and the increase in
                                                                                         aid therefore meets the criteria laid down in Article
Centre-Midi coalfields ; whereas it was necessary for
the following reasons :                                                                  9 (1 ) (1 ) of Decision No 3/71 / ECSC ;
                                                                                                        t
-— the costs of working the fields in question rose
     more steeply than expected,                                                         Whereas, as regards raising the aids to cover excep­
                                                                                         tional conversion costs from FF 155 million to FF 192
— the average income per metric ton of output                                            million, this amount represents the actual expenditure
     increased only slightly in 1973 over 1972 (by                                       incurred by Charbonnages de France in covering costs
     about 3 % ),                                                                        which are no longer related to coal production ;
                                                                                         whereas the measure is therefore in accordance with
— in 1973 the output of Charbonnages de France did                                       the provisions of Article 6 (1 ) (1 ) of Decision No 3/71 /
     not reach the target of 28 million metric tons but                                  ECSC ;
     was only 25-7 million metric tons so that total
     receipts from the sale of coal were down ;
                                                                                         Whereas the following remarks must be made in
Whereas, for the above reasons, operating losses                                         respect of the compatibility of the total amount of
 increased ; whereas the increase in aid is intended to                                  French aids with the proper functioning of the
cover the operating losses sustained in 1973 ; whereas                                   common market :
 the measure is therefore compatible with the provi­
sions of Article 9 (2) of Decision No 3 / 71 / ECSC ;                                    (2) OJ No L 335, 14. 12. 1974, p . 41 .
 ---pagebreak--- 10 . 9 . 75                        Official Journal of the European Communities                             No L 238 / 19
— there has been no noticeable decline in trade in           ture incurred by Charbonnages de France on behalf of
     coal between France and the other Community             the French Government to enable social measures for
     countries,                                              the benefit of redundant or prematurely retired miners
                                                             to be implemented in a more rational way ; whereas
— industrial users of coking coal and boiler coal             the following expenditure is proposed for 1974 ; in
     receive no indirect aids as a result of artificially     respect of miners made redundant because of pit
     low prices for French coal ;                             closures : FF 69 million, in respect of prematurely
                                                              retired miners : FF 131 million, in respect of compen­
                                                              sation to retired miners under the CAN scheme : FF
Whereas the increase in French aids for 1973 as
                                                              51 million, and in respect of the reimbursement of
proposed may therefore be considered as compatible            heating costs to prematurely retired miners : FF 4
with the proper functioning of the common market ;            million :
Whereas, in addition, the French Government has
informed the Commission under Article 2 of Decision           Whereas these social measures are for the benefit of
No 3/71 / ECSC of financial measures, both direct and         persons no longer employed in mining ; whereas the
indirect, which it proposes to take in 1974 for the           aid is designed to cover expenditure which is not
benefit of the coal industry ; whereas of those               directly related to the production and marketing of
measures the aids listed below require authorization          coal ; whereas it is therefore in accordance with the
under the abovementioned Decision ;                           provisions of Article 6 (1 ) (1 ) of Decision No 3/71 /
                                                              ECSC ;
Whereas the French Government proposes to grant to
Charbonnages de France in 1974 aid amounting to FF
255 million to cover exceptional conversion costs ;           Whereas the aids, amounting to FF 1 222-7 million,
whereas the total amount is to be apportioned among           proposed by the French Government for 1974 to
the individual coalfields as follows : Nord/ Pas-de­          cover losses (comprising FF 1 091-7 million to cover
Calais : FF 157 million, Lorraine : FF 23 million,            the coalfields' operating losses and FF 131 million to
Centre-Midi FF 75 million ; whereas the aid repre­            cover the losses sustained by the central administra­
sents a reimbursement of the cost of social measures          tion of Charbonnages de France) may be regarded as
implemented by Charbonnages de France for the                 fulfilling the conditions laid down in Article 9 of Deci­
benefit of redundant or prematurely retired miners ;          sion No 3 /71 / ECSC ; whereas in 1974 the revenue
                                                               from production will probably cover on average 75 %
                                                              of the total production costs incurred by the French
Whereas the French Government also proposes to                 pits ;
grant to Charbonnages de France in 1974 aid
amounting to FF 1 091-7 million for the purpose of
enabling the economic restructuring of the coalfields
to be carried out at a suitable rate ;                        Whereas the profitability of individual coalfields
                                                              varies ; whereas, although losses in the Lorraine field
                                                               are fairly small, there is still a large number of unprofi­
Whereas, lastly, the French Government proposes to             table pits in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais and Centre-Midi
grant to Charbonnages de France in 1974 additional             fields ; whereas the general increase in energy prices
aid amounting to FF 131 million to cover outstanding           has caused the French Government to carry out an
or new losses ; whereas this aid is intended not for the       examination and reappraisal of its coal reserves ;
coalfields but for the central administration of Char­         whereas the propects of the Lorraine field were consid­
bonnages de France in order to cover outstanding               ered to be good ; whereas, therefore, aids for the
 losses or to prevent losses increasing in the future as a     Lorraine field are intended to prevent temporary shor­
 result of interest on further loans ; whereas the central     tages of coking coal for the French steel industry,
administration has been obliged to contract loans,             whereas, however, in the case of the Nord/ Pas-de­
even after the grant of aid, in order to meet its current      Calais and Centre-Midi fields, regional and social diffi­
 obligations ;                                                 culties are the prime consideration ; whereas because
                                                               the outlook for these fields was less promising three
                                                               pits were closed down in 1974 ;
Whereas the abovementioned aids meet the criteria
 laid down in Articles 6 and 9 of Decision No 3 /71 /
 ECSC in respect of the admissibility of such State
 assistance ;                                                  Whereas, in view of the above circumstances, the aids
                                                               proposed by the French Government for 1974 to
                                                               cover operating losses may be regarded as fulfilling
 Whereas the aid to cover exceptional conversion costs         the conditions laid down in Article 9 (1 ) (1 ) and (2) of
 represents a reimbursement of non-operating expendi­          Decision No 3 / 71 / ECSC ;
 ---pagebreak--- No L 238 /20                       Official Journal of the European Communities                            10. 9. 75
Whereas it must be pointed out, furthermore, that the        HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
aids to cover losses on mine operation and losses
sustained by the central administration of Charbon­
                                                                                     Article 1
nages de France do not exceed the estimated actual
operating losses and are therefore in accordance with
the provisions of Article 9(2) of Decision No 3/71 /         The French Government is hereby authorized to grant
ECSC ;                                                       to the French coal industry the following additional
                                                             aids for 1973 :
Whereas the aids proposed by the French Govern­              (a) FF 154-9 million to cover operating losses ;
ment for 1974 are not such as to impair the proper
functioning of the common market, although the total         (b) FF 37 million to cover exceptional conversion
amount of aid calculated in accordance with Articles 6           costs ;
to 9 of Decision No 3/71 /ECSC is FF 62-88 (9-98             (c) FF 4-5 million to cover losses sustained by the
units of account) per metric ton produced and is thus            central administration of Charbcsnnages de France.
relatively high in comparison with the aids for the
German and British coal industries ;                         The French Government is hereby authorized to grant
                                                             to the French coal industry in respect of the calendar
Whereas this conclusion is based on the following            year 1 974 the following aids :
findings :
— there has been no noticeable decline in trade in           (a) FF 1 091-7 million to cover operating losses ;
    coal between France and the other Community ,            (b) FF 255 million to cover exceptional conversion
    countries,                                                   costs ;
— the number of price alignment agreements is                (c) FF 131 million to cover losses sustained by the
    small ,                                                      central administration of Charbonnages de France.
— industrial users of coking coal and boiler coal
    receive no indirect aids as a result of artificially                             Article 2
    low prices for French coal,
— the closure of unprofitable pits leads to rationaliza­     The French Republic shall supply the Commission by
    tion and the concentration of production in pits          15 November 1975 at the latest with full particulars
    where productivity is highest ;                          regarding the aids granted pursuant to this Decision,
                                                             in particular the amounts paid and the manner in
Whereas in the light of the above trends it may be           which they were apportioned and the nature and
concluded that the competitive position of the French        scope of the rationalization measures undertaken.
coal industry will not change in 1974, either as
regards the relative positions of the individual French
coalfields or as regards their position vis-d-vis other                              Article 3
Community coalfields ;
                                                             This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.
Whereas this applies even when account is taken of
the aids paid to coal mines under Decision No
73/287/ ECSC ;
                                                             Done at Brussels, 10 July 1975.
Whereas under Article 11(1 ) of Decision No 3/71 /
ECSC the Commission must ensure that the aids auth­
                                                                                       For the Commission
orized are used for the purpose set out in Articles 6 to
9 of that Decision ; whereas to this end it must be                                        The President
informed in particular of the amount and apportion­
ment of such aids,                                                                    Fran?ois-Xavier ORTOLI