On Friday 6 April, the European Commission approved a French regime granting a tax allowance to La Poste over the period 2018-2022, to allow it to maintain the high density of its postal presence in France.
Due to the mission conferred upon it, La Poste is very densely present on French territory. It has around 9,500 postal points, in the form of post offices or partnership points. To guarantee this presence, a business contract between the French state and the company provides for it to receive a local tax allowance of around €900 million maximum over the period 2018-2022.
The Commission assessed the measure on the basis of EU state aid rules on public-service compensation of 2011, authorising certain businesses to benefit, under conditions, from compensation designed to cover the increased costs inherent to the provision of a public service. The advantage brought about by these rules should not, however, lead to overcompensation, which would distort competition.
Considering that the compensation in this particular case was proportionate, as it is limited to covering the net cost of the public service mission, the institution concluded that the measure was in line with EU rules. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)