Brussels, 17/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The ninth report on State aid presenting the figures for the 1997-1999 period should be approved by the Commission on 17 July. According to the first data available, State subsidies have totalled, for the EU as a whole, EUR 90 billion, a net fall compared to 102 billion for the 1995-1997 period. Germany remains the most generous Member State with EUR 32.2 billion, followed by France (17.8 billion) and Italy (13.6 billion). Aid to the manufacturing industry has fallen and illustrates by itself the general downward trend: the annual average, for this sector, has fallen to EUR 27.6 billion (against 35.7 billion for the 1995-1997 period). Commissioner Monti is very pleased with this general trend, while indicating that there remains margin for improvement permitting for the further reduction of these amounts. EUROPE will return in more detail to this report.