Brussels, 13/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced on Friday 13 May that it was to extend the scope of its in-depth investigation to identify whether the Italian steel company Ilva has been granted illegal state aid.
The extension of the in-depth investigation which was launched in January of this year will cover an additional loan of €300 million granted by the Italian authorities in December 2015 to the third-largest steel producer in Europe (see EUROPE 11472). The Commission wishes to make sure that the money did not put Ilva's competitors into an unfavourable position from a competition point of view.
We are in contact with the Italian authorities to define a clearly “which measures were used for decontamination and of course can proceed, and which were used for restructuring”, a spokesperson said on Friday 13 May, adding “neither the December decision not today's extension decision prevent Italy from implementing measures linked to environmental clean-up and pollution containment at the Ilva site and surrounding to improve public health in the Taranto area, of course, as long as Italy recovers any cost from the relevant polluter”. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)