Brussels, 30/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 30 May, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to examine whether compensation of €60 million decided by the Italian Consiglio di Stato in favour of Simet SpA for bus services provided between 1987 and 2003 is compatible with EU state aid rules. This case was submitted to the Commission by the Italian authorities. The Commission has doubts that a public service obligation was really entrusted to the company and that a retroactive compensation is necessary for services that were provided up to 25 years ago. The investigation will help establish whether a public service obligation exists, and if so, whether it was properly entrusted to Simet; whether the parameters on the basis of which the compensation is calculated were established in advance, and whether the compensation ordered by the Consiglio di Stato would not result in overcompensation, given the fact that Simet only introduced account separation in 2000. The investigation has requested the different parties to submit their respective observations on this compensation. (FG/transl.fl)