CELEX: 31983D0160
Language: en
Date: 1983-04-07 00:00:00
Title: 83/160/ECSC: Commission Decision of 7 April 1983 approving aids from the French Republic to the coal- mining industry during 1982

No L 100/ 14                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                 19 . 4. 83
                                               COMMISSION DECISION
                                                     of 7 April 1983
              approving aids from the French Republic to the coal-mining industry during
                                                            1982
                                            (Only the French text is authentic)
                                                      (83/ 160/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                   sustained by the central administration of Charbon­
COMMUNITIES,                                                     nages de France) will not be higher than the likely
                                                                 operating losses of Charbonnages de France ;
Having regard to Commission Decision 528/76/ECSC
of 25 February 1976 regarding the Community system               Whereas the following points are relevant in connec­
of measures taken by the Member States to assist the             tion with aid to the individual coalfields :
coal-mining industry ('),
                                                                 1 . In 1982, aid to the Nord/Pas-de-Calais and Centre-
Having consulted the Council,                                        Midi coalfields will be calculated in such a way that,
                                                                     as a result of the closure of further pits, there will
                                                                     be a reduction in production, which will mean that
                                                                     some 120 fewer persons will be employed in the
                            I                                        coal indutry. The aids will prevent severe economic
                                                                     and social disruption in areas where there are not
Whereas the French Government has informed the                       yet adequate opportunities for re-employment. The
Commission, pursuant to Article 2 of the above Deci­                 aids to these coalfields therefore comply with the
sion, of the financial measures which it intends to                  provisions of the first subparagraph of Article 12 ( 1 )
implement directly or indirectly for the benefit of the              and Article 12 (2) of the Decision.
coal industry during 1982 ; whereas of these measures
the following may be approved pursuant to that                   2. The output planning of the Charbonnages de
Decision ;                                                           France in the Lorraine coalfields aims at long-term
                                                                     stabilization, since the coking coal produced in this
Whereas the French Government intends to grant to                    coalfield is important for supplying the steel
Charbonnages de France for 1982 aid amounting to                     industry. The aid granted for this purpose complies
 FF 2 936 200 000 to permit the economic restructur­                 with the second subparagraph of Article 12 ( 1 ) and
ing of the coalfields to proceed in an appropriate                   Article 12 (3) of the Decision.
manner ;
Whereas the French Government also proposes to                                                 II
grant to the central administration of Charbonnages de
France in 1982 aid amounting to FF 441 000 000 to                Whereas, under Article 3 (2) of the Decision, an
cover the charges incurred in borrowing and trans­               examination of the compatibility of the proposed aids
ferred from the pits to the central administration of            with the proper functioning of the common market
Charbonnages de France under the French Govern­                  must also extend to all other financial measures to
ment's financial improvement scheme ; whereas this               support current production in 1982 ;
aid is paid not to the coalfields but only to the central
administration of Charbonnages de France ;
                                                                 Whereas the sum of all these aids to support current
                                                                 production by the French coal industry is 553 800 000
Whereas the abovementioned aids meet the criteria
                                                                 ECU, or 30,77 ECU per tonne, for 1982 ; whereas this
laid down in the Decision for the admissibility of such          is higher than corresponding German and United
State assistance ;
                                                                 Kingdom aids but lower than Belgian aid ;
Whereas the aid of FF 3 377 200 000 proposed by the              Whereas the following points must be made about the
French Government for 1982 to cover losses (of which             compatibility of the proposed aid with the proper
FF 2 936 200 000, is to cover the coalfields' losses on          functioning of the common market :
mining and FF 441 000 000 to cover the losses
                                                                 — there were no supply difficulties on the French
(■) OJ No L 63, 11 . 3. 1976, p. 1 .                                  coal market in 1982,
 ---pagebreak--- 19 . 4. 83                         Official Journal of the European Communities                       No L 100/ 15
— French coal exports to the other Community                 HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
     countries fell in 1982 compared with 1981 ,
                                                                                   Article 1
— hardly any price alignment agreements were
     entered into for French coal in 1982,
                                                             The French Republic is hereby authorized to grant to
— industrial consumers of coal did not directly              the coal-mining industry the following aids for 1982 :
     receive aid in 1982 through the prices of French        (a) an amount not exceeding FF 2 936 200 000 to
     coking coal and steam coal,                                 cover losses on mining ;
— the closure of four marginal pits in the Nord/Pas-         (b) an amount not exceeding FF 441 000 000 to cover
     de-Calais and Centre-Midi coalfield resulted in
                                                                 the financial losses sustained by the central
     rationalization and concentration of production on          administration of Charbonnages de France.
     pits where productivity is highest ;
                                                                                   Article 2
Whereas it may accordingly be concluded that the aids
proposed in 1982 for current production by the               The Government of the French Republic shall notify
French coal industry are compatible with the proper          the Commission by 30 April 1983 of details of the
functioning of the common market ;                           aids granted pursuant to this Decision and in parti­
                                                             cular of the amounts paid and the manner in which
Whereas this applies even when account is taken of           they are apportioned.
aids to coal mines under Decison 73/287/ ECSC ;
                                                                                   Article 3
                            III                              This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.
Whereas, pursuant to Article 14 ( 1 ) of the Decision,
the Commission must satisfy itself that the approved         Done at Brussels, 7 April 1983.
aids are used exclusively for the purposes set out in
Articles 7 to 12 of that Decision ; whereas conse­                                   For the Commission
quently the Commission is to be notified in particular                                Étienne DAVIGNON
of the amount of the aid and the manner in which it
is apportioned,                                                                           Vice-President