CELEX: 31974D0615
Language: en
Date: 1974-10-16 00:00:00
Title: 74/615/ECSC: Commission Decision of 16 October 1974 approving aids to be granted by the Republic of France for the benefit of undertakings in the coal industry in respect of the calendar year 1973

No L 335/40                                Official Journal of the European Communities                             14. 12. 74
                                                    COMMISSION DECISION
                                                        of 16 October 1974
              approving aids to be granted by the Republic of prance for the benefit of undertakings
                                 in the coal industry in respect of the calendar year 1973
                                                 (Only the French text is authentic)
                                                            (74/615/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                        Whereas the French Government also proposes to
COMMUNITIES ,                                                         grant to Charbonnages de France in respect of 1973
                                                                      aid amounting to FF 1 043 million for the purpose
                                                                      of enabling the economic restructuring of the coal­
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                          fields to be carried out at a suitable rate ; whereas
European Coal and Steel Community, and in                             that amount is to be distributed among the individual
particular Articles 2, 3 , 4 and 5 thereof;                           coalfields    as   follows : Nord/Pas-de-Calais :     FF
                                                                      488 000 000, Lorraine : FF 270-4 million and Centre­
                                                                      Midi : FF 284-6 million .
Having regard to Commission Decision No 3/71/
ECSC (*) of 22 December 1970 on Community rules
for interventions by Member States for the benefit of
the coal industry ;
                                                                       Whereas the French Government also proposes to
                                                                       grant to Charbonnages de France additional aid in
Having regard to Decision No 73/287/ECSC (2) of                        respect of 1973 amounting to FF 125 million to cover
25 July 1973 on coking coal and coke, and in par­                      outstanding losses incurred by the central adminis­
 ticular Article 9 ( 1 ) thereof;                                      tration and/or to prevent such losses incurred by the
                                                                       central administration and/or to prevent such losses
                                                                       increasing in the future as a result of further loans
 Having consulted the Council ;                                        taken out by the administration ; whereas the admin­
                                                                      istration has already been obliged to take out loans,
                                                                       even after the grant of aid, in order to meet its
Whereas the French Government has informed the                         current obligations ;
 Commission pursuant to Article 2 of Decision No
 3 /71 /ECSC    of the      financial      measures   which    it
 proposes to implement, directly or indirectly, for the
 benefit of the coal industry in respect of 1973 ;                     Whereas the aforementioned aids are in accordance
 whereas the following measures require approval                       with the criteria laid down in Articles 6 and 9 of
 pursuant to the aforementioned Decision ;                             Decision No 3 /71 /ECSC for the admissibility of such
                                                                       state aid ;
 Whereas the French Government proposes to grant
 to Charbonnages de France in respect of the year 1973
 aid amounting to FF 155 million to cover exceptional
 costs of reconversion ; whereas the total amount is to
                                                                       Whereas the aid to cover exceptional costs of
 be distributed among the individual coalfields as                     conversion represents a reimbursement of non-oper­
 follows : Nord/Pas-de-Calais ; FF 93 million, Lorraine :              ating expenditure borne by Charbonnages de France
                                                                       on behalf of the French Government to enable social
 FF 17 million, Centre-Midi : FF 45 million ; whereas
 the aid represents a reimbursement of the cost of                     measures for the benefit of redundant or prematurely
 social measures implemented by Charbonnages de                        retired miners to be implemented in a more rational
 France for the benefit of redundant or prematurely                    way; whereas the following expenditure is proposed
 retired miners ;
                                                                       for 1973 : in respect of miners made redundant
                                                                       because of pit closures : FF 54 million ; in lcspect of
                                                                       prematurely retired miners : FF 69 million ; in respect
                                                                       of compensation to retired miners under the C.A.N,
                                                                       scheme : FF 31 million ; and' in respect of the reim­
 (2) OJ No L 3 , 5 . 1 . 1971 , pp. 7 et seq .                         bursement of heating costs of prematurely retired
 (2) OJ No L 259 , 15 . 9 . 1973 , p. 41 .                              miners : FF 1 million ;
 ---pagebreak---  14. 12. 74                            Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 335/41
Whereas these social measures relate to persons no                operation and losses sustained by the central admin­
longer engaged in mining; whereas the expenditure                 istration of Charbonnages de France does not exceed
Charbonnages de France in this connection is not                  the estimated actual operating losses and is therefore
regarded as operating expenditure and can therefore               in accordance with the provisions of Article 9 (2) of
not be included in the cost of production ; whereas               Decision No 3/71 /ECSC;
the aid is designed to cover expenditure not directly
connected with the production and marketing of coal ;
whereas the aid is therefore in accordance with the              Whereas the aid proposed by the French Government
provisions of Article 6 ( 1 ) ( 1 ) of Decision No 3/71/          for 1973 is not such as to impair the proper
ECSC ;                                                           functioning of the common market, although the
                                                                  total amount of aid to be calculated in accordance
                                                                  with Articles 6 to 9 of Decision No 3 /71 /ECSC yields
Whereas the aid, amounting to FF 1 168 million,                   a figure of FF 47-42 ( 8*54 u.a.) per metric ton
proposed by the French Government for 1973 to                    produced and is thus relatively high in comparison
                                                                  with the aids for the German and British coal
cover losses (of which FF 1 043 million to cover the
coalfields' operating losses and FF 125 million to                industries ;
cover the losses substained by the central adminis­
tration of Charbonnages de France) can be regarded
as being in accordance with the provisions of Article             Whereas these conclusions are based on the following
9 of Decision No 3/71/ECSC ; whereas in 1973 the                  findings :
revenue from production will on average probably                 — the amount of the aid is consistent with the
cover only approximately 60 to 65% of the total
production costs incurred by the French pits ;                        tonnage forecasts for 1973 having regard to the
                                                                      Community's overall supply position in respect
                                                                      of coal and coke;
Whereas France's coal production fell by four million            — there has been no noticeable decline in trade in
metric tons in 1973 , i.e. by 14% compared to 1973 ;                  coal between France and the other Community
whereas in 1973 pit closures and rationalization led                  countries ;
to . a reduction of 8 000 to 9 000 (i.e. approximately
8-5% in the number of persons employed in the                    — the number of price alignment agreement has
French coal industry ; whereas, in addition to total                  fallen ;
figures in respect of developments in the employment
situation in the coal industry, the French Govern­               — industrial consumers of coking coal and boiler
ment has also given the Commission details of the                     coal receive no indirect aid as a result of artifi­
pit closures proposed for 1973 ; whereas according to                 cially low prices for French coal ;
that information six pits were to be closed and
3 578 miners made redundant in the Nord/Pas-de­
                                                                  — the closure of unprofitable pits will lead to
Calais and Centre-Midi coalfields in 1973 ; whereas
                                                                      rationalization and the concentration of produc­
of those miners made redundant 2 716 persons are                      tion on pits where productivity is highest;
to be re-employed in the coal industry and 236 in
 other industries ; whereas the information also showed
that the number of persons employed in the coal                   Whereas it may therefore be concluded that the
industry, which fell by approximately 8 000 to 9 000              competitive position of the French coal industry did
in 1973 , was reduced not only because of pit closures            not change in 1973 , either as regards the relative
but also because an increase in output per man-shift              positions of the individual French coalfields or as
in the existing pits meant that not so many workers               regards the position of the entire French coal industry
were needed, i.e. that a certain number became                    vis-a-vis the other Community coalfields ;
redundant;
                                                                  Whereas this applies even when account is taken of
Whereas it is agreeable that, in view of the size of the          those aids paid to the coal mines under Decision
reduction in the total labour force, a greater                    No 73 /287/ECSC ;
reduction could give rise to difficulties of the type
described in Article 9 ( 1 ) ( 1 ) of Decision No 3/71/
ECSC; whereas the aid proposed for 1973 to cover                  Whereas, pursuant to Article 11 ( 1 ) of Decision No
operating losses is therefore in accordance with                  3 /71 /ECSC, the Commission must satisfy itself that
Article 9 ( 1 ) ( 1 ) of Decision No 3/71 /ECSC ;                 the approved aids are employed for the purposes set
                                                                  out in Articles 6 to 9 of that Decision ; whereas in
                                                                  order to do so the Commission must be notified in
Whereas it must be pointed out, furthermore, that                 particular of the amount of the aid and of the
the amount of the aid to cover losses on mine                      manner in which it is apportioned.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 335/42                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              14. 12. 74
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :                                    (c) to cover losses sustained by the central adminis­
                                                                   tration of Charbonnages de France : FF
                                                                   125 million.
                       Article 1
                                                                                      Article 2
The Government of the Republic of France is hereby
authorized to grant to the coal industry in respect            The Republic of France shall notify the Commission
of the calendar year 1973 , the following aids :               by 30 November 1974 of details of the aids granted
                                                               pursuant to this -Decision, in particular as regards the
                             (a) to cover operating losses     amounts paid and the manner in which such amounts
                                                               are apportioned and scope of the rationalization
Nord/Pas-de-Calais coalfield        FF 488-0 million           measures .
Lorraine coalfield                  FF 270-4 million
                                                                                      Article 3
Centre-Midi coalfield               FF 284-6 million
                                                               This Decision is addressed to the Republic of France.
                             (b) to cover exceptional
                                 costs of reconversion
                                                               Done at Brussels, 16 October 1974.
Nord/Pas-de-Calais coalfield        FF   93    million
                                                                                                For the Commission
Lorraine coalfield                  FF    17   million                                             The President
Centre-Midi coalfield               FF   45    million                                        Francois-Xavier ORTOLI