Brussels, 18/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Belgian Economy Minister and President of the Ecofin Council and Eurogroup, Didier Reynders, said in an interview with The Financial Times, that the European ministers and the European Commission are currently analysing the impact that the attacks on New York would have on the transport sector, energy and insurance. If the United States plans to release aid for airline companies, it will also be a problem for the EU and it will perhaps be necessary to do something, he told the daily. He went on to specify that, "if we are ready to do something", it will be without bringing the policy of budgetary constraint into question.
"It is too early for now to speak of reviewing the State aid regime for airline companies after the attacks on New York, but we shall make sure the situation is followed through", Gilles Gantelet, spokesman for the European Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, said on Tuesday. He was commenting on the meeting between the Commissioner and the representatives of the Association of European Airlines (AEA). "It is out of the question to use the attacks for carrying out other battles", the spokesman warned, specifying that, in any event, the Commission will not be able to accept the fact that the financial difficulties encountered by companies after the events last week are used to justify recapitalisation and aid that took place before the attacks. "The situation in Europe is not the same as that in the United States", but the Commission will be studying the analyses to be presented to it by the companies, he said.
The American companies are currently calling for government aid of $24 billion to overcome the crisis. As the Wall Street Stock Exchange opened, on Monday, the share prides of US air companies had fallen 39-50%. According to figures cited by AFP, the stop in traffic from 11 to 13 September cost US companies one billion dollars. The White House has announced that President Bush has called for an "exhaustive" aid programme for the sector to be prepared, and Secretary of State for the Treasury, Paul O'Neill, said one could not leave the sector "totally devastated by this kind of event".