Brussels, 03/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission decided to open detailed examination procedure concerning aid intended for the Opel factory in the region of Lisbon.
In May 2001, Portugal had notified a plan to grant regional aid and training aid amounting to around EUR 41.7 million in favour of investment made by Opel in its car plant in Azambuja. The project notified concerns the production of a new, small model, the Corsa Combo, that can be used as a private car or as a commercial vehicle, based on the Opel Corsa. The Portuguese authorities pointed out that the General Motors Group was planning a fallback solution: that of proceeding to investment in its Gliwice factory (Poland) and not in that of Azambuja. Comparing the cost of the two options through a cost-benefit analysis, they established that investment in Azambuja would involve a handicap in cost terms of 37.21% compared to Gliwice, which is enough to justify regional aid intensity of 32.5%. According to the Commission, the cost-benefit analysis does not at this stage prove Azambuja's handicap in cost terms compared to Gliwice. The Commission's doubts mainly concern the fallback solution, which consists in carrying out the Gliwice project. It first of all wonders about the operational costs of the former paint plant in Azambuja and, secondly, about the estimated income from the sale of the land on which the Azambuja plant is set up. At the current stage, the Commission doubts aid is compatible with the common market. Consequently it has decided to carry out an indepth examination of the issue and has invited Portugal to provide all the necessary information within one month.