Brussels, 05/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the fringe of a seminar organised in Stockholm on "European Competition Policy and Small Member States", Commissioner Monti, who on that occasion met Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, answered questions on tax-breaks that Portugal is said to be about to grant the German automobile equipment manufacturer Continental for the relocation of a Swedish plant to Portugal. Last December, Continental had announced its intention of closing down its Swedish plant of Gislaved to compensate for the effect of low demand and envisaged relocating part of its production to Portugal. The Swedish Minister of Competition, Ulrica Messing spoke of this affair with Mario Monti, affair that has been a major issue within the Swedish Government, for which, although it would resolve certain problems for Portugal, the closure of Gislaved would create others for Sweden. "We consider a certain amount of tax competition to be healthy (…) But a distinction has been made between harmful and non-harmful tax competition", he said, regarding the preferential rates intended to attract, on a case by case basis, companies located in Member states of the Union. In other words, he considers a certain level of tax competition within the EU to be healthy, as long as it serves to attract companies located in other Member states. Tax competition is "not harmful", he added, in a region or country if the same rights are applied to all companies. Regarding Continental, Monti said that he was going to "consider the affair carefully and rapidly", even if he has not yet received a formal complaint from Sweden, or notification from Portugal.