Brussels, 21/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The role of state aid for helping European industry adapt to unfair competition around the world was the focus of talks between the EU Competition Commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, and the French production recovery minister, Arnaud Montebourg, who had travelled over to Brussels on Monday 19 November for talks with the Commissioner ahead of the Competitiveness Council on 10 and 11 December, which will be discussing industrial policy.
The French minister told the Commissioner that he wanted the EU to stop applying more restrictive competition rules to state aid than those applied by the EU's competitors and other big economic zones in the world because he said European industry and growth in the EU is often penalised by over-strict EU anti-subsidy rules which are applied in a nit-picking manner against companies in the EU member states, while many global competitors have no qualms about subsidising their industries and restricting imports from the EU. Montebourg said that the gradual introduction this year and next of the European Commission's new state aid control rules (the Almunia package, see EUROPE 10611) should take account of these concerns. Debate began on this issue last month (see EUROPE 10708) when seven member states backed the demand of the “Seven Club” (a different seven, namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Romania) for a policy debate at the December 2012 Competitiveness Council about state aid for technological innovation. (FG/transl.fl)