Brussels, 03/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - As already reported briefly in EUROPE, the European Commission this week approved certain regional aid maps for Italy for 2000-2006. It approved the map for the least well off regions: Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily. In contrast, it initiated a formal scrutiny procedure for the map for the Centre-North regions. The problem is that in the Italian plan, some of these regions are included pursuant to their eligibility for Objective 2 (rural and industrial conversion) of the Structural Funds, but this map has not yet been adopted by the European Union. Enterprises from the Centre-North region will not be able to receive regional state aid until the Commission has taken a decision.
The regional aid maps determine the regions in which public investment aid may be granted to enterprises by the state or the EU, and the maximum aid intensity authorised per region, recalls the Commission in a press release. Maximum aid intensities stand at 35% for five eligible southern regions and at 50% net in the Calabria region.
Some 43.6% of the Italian population is eligible for regional state aid, of which 33.6% in the six least favoured regions (with a per capita GDP below 75% of the Community average) and 10% in the Centre-North regions.