Brussels, 17/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 18 December, the European Commission will open formal investigations into seven Spanish football clubs (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atletico Bilbao, Osasuna, Valence, Hercules and Elche) to see whether they received illegal tax advantages, said Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Garcia Margallo on Monday. The investigations come eight months after the announcement by Competition Commissioner Almunia on 3 April that the Commission had received complaints about the aid and following pressure from the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, who has been accusing the Commission of dragging its feet.
In a press release, O'Reilly “told the European Commission to stop delaying a decision on whether to open infringement proceedings against Spain concerning alleged unfair tax advantages for certain Spanish football clubs” (it is alleged that tax advantages worth several billion euro were received by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Osasuna and Atletico Bilbao). O'Reilly explains: “The Commission has failed to act on this complaint for more than four years. Not only is this bad administration, but to the European public it can look like a conflict of interest given the Commissioner's strong links to one of the football clubs in question. In my inquiry, I have not looked into the merits of the allegations concerning the breach of State Aid rules. I trust, however, that the Commission will decide to open an investigation tomorrow in order to investigate the facts and dispel any suspicions”. Almunia comes from Bilbao and is a fan of Atletico Bilbao, and he was a minister in the Spanish government when the tax advantages were granted. A spokesman for Almunia, Antoine Colombani, said the commissioner rejected the accusations, saying that any allegation of conflicts of interest in this connection were unacceptable. (FG/transl.fl)