CELEX: 31972D0034
Language: en
Date: 1971-12-15 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 15 December 1971 on the abolition, pursuant to Article 93 (2) of the EEC Treaty, of Belgian aid to undertakings in difficulty

58                                Official Journal of the European Communities
 13.1.72                           Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 10/22
                                             COMMISSION DECISION
                                                of 15 December 1971
              on the abolition, pursuant to Article 93 (2) of the EEC Treaty, of Belgian aid to under­
                                                 takings in difficulty
           x                       (Only the Dutch and French texts are authentic)
                                                     (72/34/EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                Whereas what is actually involved is either a credit
COMMUNITIES,                                                  guaranteed by the State and granted through the
                                                              SNCI , or a credit granted directly by the Belgian
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­            State, in both cases covered by public funds ; whereas
pean Economic Community, and in particular the                a substantial part of the guaranteed credit will entail
first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) thereof;                 budgetary expenditure since the Belgian authorities
                                                              themselves admit that it must be considered as lost;
Whereas an Agreement was concluded on 9 May                   whereas, furthermore, the rate of interest required
1968 between the Belgian State and the Societe na­            has been in a number of cases below, the market rate;
tional de credit a I'industrie ( SNCI ) concerning the
granting of credits to undertakings in difficulty;            Wheras the granting of these credits to undertakings
whereas under that Agreement the Belgian State em­            in difficulty has disturbed the normal play of market
powered SNCI to carry out on its behalf credit trans­         forces by suppressing their effect, namely that of driv­
actions at normal interest rates with undertakings            ing inefficient undertakings out of business; whereas
whose profitability is in serious doubt and which in          artificial support for those undertakings may place
view of their situation cannot obtain help from public        an undue burden on the structure of sectors which
or private credit institutions on the terms normally          have adjustment difficulties ; whereas the commercial
imposed by such institutions;                                 activities of those marginal undertakings and the
                                                              prices they set in order to remain in business are
Whereas the SNCI advances the amounts required                likely to disturb the market; whereas the aid is there­
for the credits in question; whereas if the undertak­         fore such as to affect competition and trade within
ing does not fulfil its obligations - repayments and           the Community;
interest - the Belgian State pays the SNCI the
amounts in arrears, charging them against budget ap­          Whereas, consequently, the conditions for applying
propriations;                                                 the prohibition provided for in Article 92 ( 1 ) of the
                                                              EEC Treaty apply;
Whereas the overall ceiling for these credits was
originally 500 million Belgian francs and was then            Whereas the field of application of the measures in
increased to 800 million ; whereas that ceiling was           question is not covered by any of the derogations set
reached during the autumn of 1969 ;                           out in Article 92 (2) and (3 ) of the EEC Treaty;
                                                              whereas in particular those measures of aid could be
Whereas, when the credits provided for under the              applied to all economic activities and in any part of
Agreement were exhausted, further credits were                Belgium ; whereas they cannot therefore qualify under
granted to undertakings in difficulty but they were,          any of the derogations provided for in that Article,
in that instance, directly charged against Article            if only by reason of their field of application;
600.1 .A 'Brussels and special difficulties' of the
Economic Affairs budget ; whereas, more often that            Whereas those measures of aid have, furthermore, an
not, the rate of interest required for those credits is       essentially protective purpose - prevention of the
slightly below the market rate;                               social consequences of the closure of certain under­
                                                              takings - a purpose which cannot reconciled with
Whereas, since the beginning of 1971 , no new case            the concept of the development of economic and
has been dealt with against appropriations charged            regional activities which is a prerequisite for dero­
directly to the Economic Affairs budget;                      gations under Article 92 (3 ) (a) or (c) of the EEC
 ---pagebreak---                                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                  59
Treaty; whereas the extent to1 which such aid also           HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
promotes reorganization cannot be assessed for lack
of information on that count;                                                         Article 1
                                                             The Kingdom of Belgium shall forthwith discontinue
Wheras, in accordance with the procedure laid down           providing credits to undertakings in difficulty, such
in Article 93 (2) of the EEC Treaty, the Kingdom of          credits having been originally granted under the
Belgium and the other Member States were, by letters         Agreement of 9 May 1968 between the Belgian State
of the Commission of 2 March and 10 March 1971 ,             and the Societe nationale de credit a I'industrie and
respectively, given notice to submit their comments ;        subsequently under Article 600.1 .A 'Brussels and spe­
whereas the comments of the Belgian Government               cial difficulties' of the Economic Affairs budget.
forwarded on 25 March 1971 , 26 May 1971 , 16 June
1971 , and 29 September 1971 do not enable the Com­                                   Article 2
mission to modify its position as regards the measures
                                                             This Decision is addressed to the 4 Kingdom of Bel­
in question;
                                                             gium.
Whereas it is necessary to ensure that the abolition         Done at Brussels, on 15 December 1971 .
of the aid in question is definitive ; whereas it should
not be possible for this aid to be granted through any                          For the Commission
other procedure ; whereas, therefore, a decision based
on the first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) should                                 The President
be adopted,                                                                    Franco M. MALFATTI