Brussels, 28/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has authorised France to pay state aid of EUR 991 million (6.5 billion FF) to its coal industry in 2001 as part of a gradual reduction of activity with a view to the complete cessation of coalmining by 2005, in line with the 1994 agreement between Charbonnages de France and the French trade unions. The aid is made up of: 1) EUR 349 million in aid for the reduction of activity intended to cover the different between production costs and selling prices for coal; 2) EUR 642 million in aid to cover exceptional costs not related to current production.
"In taking this decision, the Commission took the difficult social and regional context of the French coal industry into particular consideration", explains a press release arguing that "Staggering closures until 2005 should offset to some extent the impact of these measures on regions that are already suffering the effects of the reduction of coalmining activity". The number of miners in France has dropped from 5,000 to 2,800 since 1997, and coal output has fallen from 4.9 million to 2 million tonnes.