Brussels, 24/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 24 November, the European Commission decided to refer Spain to the European Court of Justice for failure to implement a Court ruling of December 2006, which declared that Spain had failed to recover incompatible state aid granted by certain Basque Provinces, as ordered by Commission decisions of July 2001.
In 2001, the Commission had found six tax aid schemes in Alava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya incompatible with EU state aid rules and had required Spain to recover the illegal aid. The aid consisted of tax credits of 45% on investments exceeding €15 million and of tax holidays providing for substantial tax reliefs to start-up firms during the first four financial years in which they make a profit. The Court confirmed the Commission's decisions on 14 December 2006. The Commission started infringement proceedings in 2007.
Although almost four years have elapsed since the judgment, Spain has yet to complete the recovery procedure. As this is a referral to the Court for failure to respect a previous Court ruling, the Commission has asked the Court to impose a daily penalty payment of €236,044.8 for each day after the second Court ruling until the infringement ends and a lump sum of €25,817.4 per day for the period between the 2006 Court judgement and the second Court ruling. These payments should act as an incentive to ensure that the illegal aid amounts are recovered rapidly from the beneficiaries. (O.L./transl.fl)