27/07/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Friday 27 July, the European Commission approved a German measure in support of railway companies investing in technology in order to improve energy efficiency. With this measure, which was notified in January and involves a budget that has been put at €500 million over the period 2018-2022, railway enterprises using electric trains are eligible for compensation of up to 50% of the costs paid out in investments targeting energy efficiency if they can demonstrate an improvement in their energy efficiency of 1.75% from one year to the next (2% from 2020 onwards). The Commission, which considers that the measure is beneficial to the environment, proportionate and necessary for its objective but without creating any competition distortions, concluded that it was compatible with EU state aid rules, notably the 2008 guidelines on state aid for railway undertakings. (LT)