Brussels, 23/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 23 February, the European Commission required Greece and Italy to recover illegal aid (state aid contravening EU legislation).
Italy must recover operating aid worth some €18 million granted by Sardinia in 2004 to three big energy-using companies, Portovesme (zinc and lead), ILA (aluminium products) and Eurallumina (aluminium) in the form of subsidised electricity prices. After detailed investigations that started in 2006, the Commission says that the aid, granted to compensate for high electricity charges in Sardinia, does not meet any general interest objectives but is in fact a competition-distorting subsidy. The Commission banned plans to grant similar aid in 2005 to the same three companies along with chlorine producer Syndial.
In Greece, Greek mining company Ellinikos Xrysos bought the Cassandra mines (in Chalkidiki in northern Greece) from the state in 2003 for €11 million and is now required to pay the Greek government €15.3 million because the sale was below market value and therefore amounted to illegal state aid. After a detailed investigation that started in 2008 (see EUROPE 9801), the Commission found that the mines had been bought at €14 million less than their market value. The sale was carried out without an open tender or a valuation of the mines' assets by an independent evaluator. The sale contract also provided for the waiver of transaction taxes of €1.34 million, which now has to be paid to the Greek government. (F.G./transl.fl)