CELEX: 31975D0545
Language: en
Date: 1975-07-10 00:00:00
Title: 75/545/ECSC: Commission Decision of 10 July 1975 authorizing the Kingdom of Belgium to grant aids to coal mining undertakings in 1974

10 . 9 . 75                             Official Journal of the European Communities                               No L 238 / 25
                                                    COMMISSION DECISION
                                                          of 10 July 1975
                authorizing the Kingdom of Belgium to grant aids to coal mining undertakings
                                                              in 1974
                                          (Only the French and Dutch texts are authentic)
                                                           (75/ 545/ ECSC)
 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                        is designed to cover the operating losses, which are
 COMMUNITIES,                                                          defined in a standard book of charges in respect of all
                                                                       subsidized pits ;
  Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
  Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Articles                Whereas the aids referred to above fulfil the criteria
  2, 3 , 4 and 5 thereof ;
                                                                       laid down in Articles 6 , 7 and 9 of Decision No 3 / 71 /
  Having regard to Commission Decision No 3/71 /                       ECSC     for    the   admissibility  of    such   Stat ?   aid
                                                                       measures ;
  ECSC (') of 22 December 1970 on Community rules
  for interventions by Member States for the benefit of
  the coal industry ;                                                  Whereas the object of the aids for the financing of
                                                                       investment projects in the undertakings benefiting
  Having regard to Decision No 73/287/ ECSC (2) of 25                  from the aid meets the requirements of Article 7 (2) of
  July 1973 concerning coking coal and coke for the                    Decision No 3 / 71 / ECSC ; whereas these aids are to be
  iron and steel industry in the Community, and in                     used to cover part of the expenditure on the concentra­
  particular Article 9(1 ) thereof ;                                   tion , mechanization and automation of mine work­
                                                                       ings ; to enable the coal to be more intensively
  Having consulted the Council ;
                                                                       up-graded and better cleaned ; whereas the informa­
                                                                       tion submitted to the Commission also reveals that
  Whereas the Belgian Government has informed the
  Commission in accordance with Article 2 of Decision                  the undertakings benefiting from the aid will not
  No 3 / 71 / ECSC of financial measures , both direct and             apply for any loans at a reduced rate of interest within
  indirect , which it intends to take for the benefit of the           the meaning of Article 54 of the ECSC Treaty in
  coal industry during 1974 ; whereas the aids listed                  respect of such investment projects ;
  below, which are included in such measures, require
  authorization in accordance with the Decision referred               Whereas intervention under Article 6(1 ) (2) of Deci­
  to above ;                                                           sion No 3/71 / ECSC may take the form of reimburse­
                                                                       ment of the cost of pumping out underground water
  Whereas the Belgian Government proposes to grant                     seeping from the workings of closed pits ; whereas
  aids in 1974 for investment financing amounting to                   removal of the underground water is necessitated by
  Bfrs 150 million ;                                                   the closure of the Gosson-Kessales and            Bure-aux­
                                                                        Femmes pits ; whereas the aid does not exceed the
  Whereas this sum is to enable the necessary invest­                  actual pumping costs for the additional removal of
  ments to be made by undertakings whose closure is                    underground water ;
  not planned in 1974 ;
  Whereas the Belgian Government also proposes to                      Whereas the other aids provided for by the Belgian
  grant aids amounting to Bfrs 50 million to the under­                Government for 1974 amounting to Bfrs 4 453
  taking ' Esperance et Bonne Fortune' ; whereas as a                   million can be regarded as being compatible with the
, result of the closure of shaft 2 of the Gosson-Kessales               provisions of Article 9 of Decision No 3 /71 / ECSC ;
  mining company in Montegnee and the closure of the
  ' Bure-aux-Femmes' shaft of Patience and Beaujonc,                   Whereas, although production costs rose by about
  that undertaking has incurred additional expenditure                  20% compared with 1973 , the Belgian coal mining
  on pumping out underground water seeping from the                     industry succeeded by means of a relatively more
  closed pits ;                                                         severe increase in coal prices in reducing operating
                                                                        costs in 1974 and therefore aids, by about 16%
  Whereas the Belgian Government also proposes
                                                                        compared with the previous year.
  paying Bfrs 4 453 million to ensure that the closure
  programme is carried out at what the Belgian Govern­
  ment considers to be a suitable rate ; whereas this sum               Whereas     in   the southern    coalfield , revenue    from
                                                                        production in 1974 covered barely 50% of total
  (') 0 | No L 3 , S. I. 1971 , p . 7 .                                 operating costs ; whereas in 1974, three pits in the
  (-') OJ No L 259 , I S. 9 . 1973 , p. 41 .                            southern coalfield were closed , so that by the end of
 ---pagebreak--- No L 238 / 26                           Official Journal of the European Communities                               10 . 9 . 75
1974 only nine pits were in operation ; whereas about             not impair the proper functioning of the common
1 800 persons have been affected by these closures ;              market ;
Whereas, in view of the Social factors obtaining in the           Whereas this view also applies if account is taken of
Belgian southern coalfield, the aid to be granted for             the aids granted to the coal mining undertakings
1974 to cover operating losses can be regarded as                 pursuant to Decision No 72/287/ ECSC ;
being compatible with the provisions of Article
9 ( 1 ) ( 1 ) of Decision No 3/71 / ECSC ;                        Whereas according to Article 11 ( 1 ) of Decision No
                                                                  3 /71 / ECSC, the Commission must satisfy itself that
Whereas it should be noted that the Campine                       the aids authorized are used for the purposes laid
coalfield is of extreme importance to the Belgian steel           down in Articles 6 to 9 of that Decision ; whereas to
industry for the supply of coking coal ; whereas, as a            this end it must be informed in particular of the
result of the high level of activity in the steel industry        amount and apportionment of the payments,
in 1974, demand for coking coal and coke was great ;
whereas, because of the tight supply situation with
regard to coking coal throughout the world, it was                HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
very difficult for the Belgian steel industry to increase
even more sharply its purchases of coking coal from
                                                                                           Article 1
other Community countries and third countries in
1974 ; whereas for this reason , the stabilization of
                                                                  The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium is
output in the Campine coalfield contributed to the                 hereby authorized to grant the Belgian coal mining
avoidance of temporary supply bottlenecks in coking                industry aids totalling Bfrs 4 653 million for the 1974
coal ; whereas the aid is therefore compatible with               calendar year.
Article 9(1 ) (2) of Decision No 3/71 / ECSC ;
                                                                   Bfrs 150 million of this amount are intended for the
Whereas it should be noted, moreover, that the aids to
cover operating losses are not higher than the                     financing of investment projects, Bfrs 50 million for
expected operating losses ; whereas they are therefore             the removal of underground water which has entered
also in accordance with the provisions of Article 9 (2)            the Esperance and Bonne Fortune pit and Bfrs 4 453
of Decision No 3 / 71 / ECSC ;                                     million to cover operating losses.
Whereas the aids proposed by the Belgian Govern­                                           Article 2
ment for 1974 are not such as to impair the proper
functioning of the common market ;                                The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium shall
                                                                   notify the Commission in full detail by 15 November
Whereas this view is supported by the following find­
ings :
                                                                   1975 of the aids granted pursuant to this Decision ,
                                                                   and in particular the amounts paid and the manner in
— no          adverse  effects on   trade   in  coal  between     which they are apportioned .
       Belgium and the other Community countries were
      discernible in 1974,
                                                                                           Article 3
— in 1973 , no price alignments on lower Commu­
       nity coal prices were effected in the formation of         This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of
       prices for Belgian coal ,                                   Belgium .
— industrial users of boiler coal receive no indirect
      aids as a result of artificially low prices for Belgian
      coal ,                                                       Done at Brussels , 10 July 1975 .
                                                                              t
— the closure of unprofitable pits leads t-o rationaliza­
       tion and concentration of production in pits where                                    /■'or the Coin mission
       productivity is highest ;
                                                                                                  The President
Whereas it may therefore be concluded that the aids
proposed by the Belgian Government for 1974 will                                            Prancois-Xavier ORTOLI