Brussels, 04/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into surplus aid Germany has paid the shipyard of Kvaerner Warnow Werft (KWW), subsidiary of the Norwegian group Kvaerner. Between 1993 and 1995, the Commission approved aid for a total of DM 1.2 bn (637 million euro) for the privatisation and restructuring of the old East German shipyards of Rostock-Warnemunde. It has, however, lately noted that the KWW shipyard has received operating aid of DM 513 million (262 million euro), exceeding the company's real losses by DM 119.3 million (61 million euro). It considers this DM 119.3 million surplus to be an infringement of the Commission's decisions regarding aid to the restructuring of shipyards of the new Laender and that it risked not complying with the rules of the common market. The investigation should verify this.