01/03/2021 (Agence Europe) – The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation, on 1 March, to determine whether certain Italian aid measures in favour of Cineca are in line with EU State aid rules. Cineca is a non-profit consortium composed of the Italian Ministry of Education, the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research, 69 Italian universities and 22 Italian national institutions. The Commission is examining: - whether the annual public financing provided since 2004 to Cineca for the provision of IT services constitutes illegal and incompatible State aid; - whether payments made by various Italian universities to Cineca for IT services involve illegal and incompatible State aid; - whether the public financing received by Cineca has been used to cross-subsidise economic activities in markets where Cineca might be in competition with other market players. (LC)