Brussels, 22/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided on Wednesday 22 February to open in-depth investigations into whether financial arrangements between public authorities and the airports of Saarbrücken, Zweibrücken, Lübeck-Blankensee (Germany) and Klagenfurt (Austria), and also rebates and marketing agreements concluded between these airports and some of the airlines using them, are in line with EU state aid rules.
On the basis of the information at its disposal, the Commission cannot exclude the possibility that the measures affecting the four airports and their customer airlines involve state aid which gives them an unfair advantage vis-à-vis their competitors and is, thus, incompatible with the internal market. It says in a press release that investment by public authorities in companies carrying out economic activities are in line with EU state aid rules when they are made on terms that a private player operating under market conditions would accept (the market economy investor principle, MEIP). In the aviation sector, infrastructure investment subsidies can, in principle, be found compatible with the guidelines on state aid in the aviation sector when they are “necessary, proportionate, pursue an objective of general interest, ensure non-discriminatory access for all users and do not unduly affect trade in the internal market”. The Commission says, too that “operating support is far more likely to distort competition between airports and is, therefore, in principle incompatible with the internal market”. (OL/transl.rt)