Brussels, 03/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is currently conducting an investigation, which is purely informal and preliminary at this stage, into possible illegal state aid received by Real Madrid and other football clubs in Europe, the spokesperson to the European Competition Commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, confirmed on Wednesday 3 April.
He explained that the competition services of the Commission were examining “complaints or information” to this effect from companies or individuals from several member states. However, the Commission has not yet decided whether it will open a formal investigation into the clubs in question, which include Real Madrid.
According to the UK daily newspaper The Independent, the European Commission suspects that the Madrid-based club may have entered into an illegal agreement with town hall of Madrid for the city's repurchase of municipal land sold to the club in 1998 at a value estimated at the time at €421,000, which was then bought back in 2011 for €22.7 million, or an increase of 5400%. Instead of paying this money, the city is alleged to have given Real Madrid the land required to develop its new stadium, which may be interpreted as illegal state aid, in the view of the Commission.
In early March, the Commission started a formal investigation on the funding of their football clubs by five Dutch cities, which include PSV Eindhoven (see EUROPE 10800). (FG/transl.fl)