Brussels, 26/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission opened an investigation into Italian State aid (more specifically from the Sardinian authorities) grated to farmers to compensate the differences in price between diesel and natural gas. The Commission feels, at this stage, that a State aid aiming to reduce exclusively and artificially farmer's production costs constitutes an operating aid. "Such an aid normally does not bring about any lasting improvement for the sector. As soon as such an aid is stopped, the old problem reappears", explains the Commission, which suggests to overcome these problems through other means: for example, the framing of aid policies in favour of the environment provides the possibility of granting aids for the use of renewable energy sources available locally. The aid proposed "would not produce any incentive to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. It would rather appear to inhibit such structural changes".
This State aid is foreseen in the codified law concerning Sardinia, called "Testo Unico", which regulates the granting of a multitude of aids to the agricultural sector. According to the Sardinian authorities, the island suffers from the absence of a network of gas pipelines. This forces farmers to use diesel, which is far more costly. The aid would have as aim to remedy this handicap, by re-establishing what the Sardinian authorities consider as normal conditions of competition.