24/02/2025 (Agence Europe) – On 24 February, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation to determine whether the public aid that Croatia is alleged to have granted to Hrvatske Šume d.o.o. (“HŠ”) and certain Croatian wood processing companies complies with EU rules. The support would have been granted by: - the absence of any remuneration from HŠ to the Croatian State in exchange for exclusive rights to manage and exploit the Croatian public forest; - the market prices offered by HŠ to certain companies that have signed wood purchase contracts with it. The Commission wants to check whether the absence of remuneration can give HŠ an economic advantage over private forest owners. With regard to prices, it wants to know whether they are the result of autonomous commercial decisions by an independent company (HŠ) or rather decisions by the Croatian State giving an economic advantage to a group of HŠ’s customers. (SP)