CELEX: 31976D0214
Language: en
Date: 1975-12-17 00:00:00
Title: 76/214/ECSC: Commission Decision of 17 December 1975 approving aids to be granted by the French Republic for the benefit of undertakings in the coal industry in respect of 1975

No L 46/ 18                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                   21.2. 76
                                                  COMMISSION DECISION
                                                     of 17 December 1975
                approving aids to be granted by the French Republic for the benefit of undertakings
                                            in the coal industry in respect of 1975
                                                (Only the French text is authentic)
                                                         (76/21 4/ESCS )
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                       respect of 1975 amounting to FF 123 million to cover
COMMUNITIES,                                                         outstanding or newly-arising financial losses ; whereas
                                                                    this aid is paid not to the coalfields but only to the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                         central administration of Charbonnages de France to
European Coal and Steel Community, and in                           cover outstanding losses incurred by the central
particular Articles 2, 3 , 4 and 5 thereof,                         administration and/or to prevent such losses
                                                                    increasing as a result of expenditure on interest on
Having regard to Commission Decision 3 /71 /ECSC                    new loans ; whereas the central administration of
of 22 December 1970 on Community rules for                           Charbonnages de France has been obliged to take out
                                                                     loans as its financial means were insufficient to meet
interventions by Member States for the benefit of the
coal industry (*),                                                   its current obligations, even after the grant of aid ;
                                                                    Whereas the aforementioned aids are in accordance
Having regard to Decision 73 /287/ECSC of 25 July                   with the criteria laid down in Articles 6 and 9 of
1973 on coking coal and coke (2), and in particular
Article 9 ( 1 ) thereof,                                            Decision 3/71 /ECSC for the admissibility of such
                                                                    State assistance ;
Having consulted the Council,
                                                                    Whereas the aid to cover exceptional cost of
                                                                     conversion         represents    a     reimbursement    of
Whereas the French Government has informed the
                                                                     non-operating expenditure borne by Charbonnages
Commission, pursuant to Article 2 of Decision                        de France on behalf of the French Government to
3/71/ECSC, of the financial measures which it                        enable social measures for the benefit of reduction or
proposes to implement directly or indirectly for the                 prematurely retired miners to be implemented in
benefit of the coal industry in respect of 1975 ;                    a more rational way ; whereas the following
whereas the following measures should be authorized                  expenditure is proposed for 1970 in respect of
pursuant to the aforementioned Decision ;                            miners made redundant because of pit closures : FF
                                                                    43 million ; in respect of prematurely retired miners :
Whereas the French Government proposes to grant                      FF 169 million ; in respect of compensation to retired
to Charbonnages de France in respect of the year                     miners under the CAN scheme : FF 60 million ; and in
1975 aid amounting to FF 278 million to cover                        respect of the reimbursement of heating costs of
exceptional costs of reconversion ; whereas the aid                  prematurely retired miners : FF 6 million ;
represents a reimbursement of the cost of social
measures implemented by Charbonnages de France
for the benefit of redundant or prematurely retired                 Whereas these social measures relate to persons no
miners ;                                                             longer engaged in mining ; whereas the aid is designed
                                                                     to cover expenditure not directly connected with the
Whereas the French Government also proposes to                       production and marketing of coal ; whereas the aid is
grant to Charbonnages de France in respect of 1975                   therefore in accordance with the provisions of Article
 aid amounting to FF 682 400 000 which should, in its                6 ( 1 ) ( 1 ) of Decision 3/71 /ECSC ;
 opinion, permit the economic restructuring of the
coalfields to be carrid out at an appropriate rate ;                Whereas the aid, amounting to FF 805 400 000,
                                                                     proposed by the French Government for 1975 to
Whereas the French Government also proposes to                       cover losses (of which FF 682 400 000 is to cover the
grant to Charbonnages de France additional aid in                    coalfields' operating losses and FF 123 million to
                                                                     cover the losses sustained by the central
                                                                     administration of Charbonnages de France) will be
 0 ) OJ No L 3 , 5 . 1 . 1971 , p . 7.                               lower than the operating losses that are expected to
 (2) OJ No L 259, 15. 9. 1973, p. 36.                                be incurred by Charbonnages de France ; whereas the
 ---pagebreak---  21 . 2 . 76                        Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 46/ 19
aid should be correspondingly reduced if the                  Whereas, pursuant to Article 11 ( 1 ) of Decision
operating losses decrease in 1975 as a result of              3/71 /ECSC, the Commission must satisfy itself that
 further price increases for French coal ; whereas,            the approved aids are employed for the purposes set
 according to these criteria, the aid complies with the       out in Articles 6 and 9 of that Decision ; whereas in
provisions of Article 9 (2) of Decision 3/71 /ECSC ;          order to do so the Commission must be notified in
                                                              particular of the amount of the aid and of the
 Whereas no basic improvements are expected to                manner in which it is apportioned,
 occur in the economic and social conditions of the
 French coalfields between 1974 and 1975 ; whereas a
temporary maintenance of production will also help            HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
to avoid transitory supply bottlenecks in view of the
general energy supply problems ; whereas the aid to
cover operating losses is therefore also in accordance                               Article 1
with Article 9 ( 1 ) of Decision 3/71 /ECSC;
                                                              The Government of the French Republic is hereby
Whereas the aid proposed by the French Government             authorized to grant to the coal industry in respect of
for 1975 is not such as to impair the proper                  the calendar year 1975, the following aids :
functioning of the common market, although the                 (a) FF 278 million to cover exceptional costs of
 total amount of aid to be calculated in accordance                 reconversion ;
 with Articles 6 and 9 of Decision 3/71 /ECSC yields a
figure of FF 46-69 ( 7-75 u.a.) per metric ton produced       (b) FF 682 400 000 to cover operating losses ;
and is thus relatively high in comparison with the              (c) FF 123 million to cover the losses sustained by
aids for the German and British coal industries;                    the central administration of Charbonnages de
                                                                    France.
Whereas these conclusions are based on the following
findings :                                                    The aids mentioned under (b ) and (c) should not
                                                              be greater than the effective production losses.
— no adverse effect on trade in coal between France
      and the other Member States is expected ;
                                                                                     Article 2
— no price alignment agreements are expected for
      French coal in 1975 ;
                                                              The French Republic shall notify the Commission by
— industrial consumers of coal will receive no                30 April 1976 of details of the aids granted pursuant
      indirect aid in 1975 as a result of the prices of       to this Decision, in particular as regards the amounts
      French coking coal and boiler coal ;                    paid and the manner in which such amounts are
                                                              apportioned.
— the closure of two unprofitable pits will lead to
      rationalization    and   the     concentration   of
      production on pits where productivity is highest;                              Article 3
Whereas it may be concluded from the trends                   This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.
described above that the competitive position of the
French coal industry will not change in 1975 , either
as regards the relative positions of the individual           Done at Brussels, 17 December 1975 .
French coalfields or as regards their position vis-a-vis
the other Community coalfields ;
                                                                                              For the Commission
Whereas this applies even when account is taken of                                               Henri SIMONET
those aids paid to the coal mines under Decision
73/287/ECSC;                                                                                      Vice-President