Brussels, 18/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 18 February, the Commission published a few figures on levels of illegal state aid recovered by the member states over the last 10 years and the ever-increasing pace of this activity recently, particularly due to new, reinforced rules applied by the Commission.
Between 2000 and 2010, the member states recovered a total of €10.9 billion in illegal state aid, with a further €1.8 billion still outstanding. For 2010 alone, this figure was €530 million in total under 10 proceedings carried out in five member states, with 54 cases still pending in 12 member states early in 2011. Of these, more than 20 are currently before the Court of Justice and, in 13 others, the beneficiary has either paid the aid into a blocked account pending a legal decision, or has become insolvent. The other cases, which tend to be the more recent ones, are being monitored or concern companies which have become insolvent (five cases). It is also worth noting that the pace of recovery has stepped up, as in the last two years, 57% of the legal aid was recovered or brought before the Court. This rate stood at 48.3% in 2009 and just 26.8% in 2007. In future, controls on state aid will be even stricter and infringement proceedings will start as soon as it appears that the states are delaying in recovering the sums due, the Commission states. (F.G./transl.fl)