Brussels, 29/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 29 June the European Commission reached a number of different decisions on state aid with regard to Germany, Belgium and Finland. It considers that the aid is partially incompatible with EU rules on state aid: - The Commission has decided that a loan amounting to around €15 million granted by the Wiederaufbaukasse der rheinland-pfälzischen Weinbaugebiete (WAK) Germany in 1999 constitutes illegal state aid as it was granted in contradiction with the Commission notice on the method for setting the reference and discount rates. The European Commission further decided that WAK's subordination and waiver of claims in favour of GfW when GfW got into financial difficulty in 2000 did not constitute state aid as it is in conformity with the Private Creditor Test. The European Commission also decided that GfW's purchase of must in 1999 from winegrowing enterprises and merchants, financed by the loan granted by WAK, did not constitute state aid as the purchase was done on market terms; - The aid given by Belgium to fund screening tests for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) for bovines between 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2004 was not compatible with the rules on state aid in agriculture. This aid should be recovered from the beneficiaries. The total to be recovered amounts to €6.6 million, not including interest. The Commission has examined the information presented by Belgium following the opening of an official enquiry in 2008. It has concluded that the aid was financed with more than €40 per test in the agriculture field.
The European Commission has opened a formal investigation under the EU state aid rules into Finnish plans to modify investment aid and young farmer start-up support in Finland provided under existing aid schemes. The notified measure envisages lowering the minimum interest rate that the recipient of the loan must pay from 2% to 1% for the years 2011 and 2012. According to the Finnish authorities the reduction would be applicable for the new aid to be granted under the existing aid schemes as well as to aid already granted. However, the Commission has doubts whether the planned retrospective change of conditions (aid already granted) can be considered compatible with EU state aid rules. There the measure seems to lack the necessary incentive element and may constitute operating aid which is simply intended to relieve the beneficiary of a financial burden. (F.B./transl.fl)