Brussels, 04/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has authorised France to prolong six motorway operator concession contracts, in the framework of its reform of the operating system for motorway concessions. This prolongation from 12 to 15 years of contracts granted to six mixed economy motorway concessionary companies (SEMCA), will compensate for the elimination of the financial advantages so far granted to these six companies.
The concessions granted: 1) until 2006 for the motorway company Esterel-Cote d'Azur, Provence, Alpes (ESCOTA), 2) until 2008 for the motorway companies Nord and l'Est de France (SANEF) and Paris Normandie (SAPN), 3) until 2032 for the motorway companies Sud de la France (ASF), Paris-Rhin-Rhone (SAPRR) and Rhone-Alps (AREA).
The extension of the contracts notably compensates the removal of the undertaking passively taken on by the States, written into the concession contracts of the SEMCA.
By examining this reform in the light of European rules on State aid to companies responsible for the management of services of general economic interest, the Commission feels that the system answers the principal of proportionality as the new benefits are equivalent to those which will now be removed. "It also ensures equal treatment between all the actors during the allocation of future concessions", feels the Commission in its Communiqué.