Brussels, 14/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission believes that Italy is well aware of the fact that aid it intends granting to the ailing Fiat car manufacturers has to conform with European rules on State Aid. Amelia Torres, spokesperson for Commissioner Monti declared, "The Italian authorities are fully aware of the existence of EU State Aid rules and of the need to respect the rules". She also recounted the telephone conversation between Mario Monti and Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi last Sunday. The Italian Prime Minister informed Mr Monti of the possibility of a possible government initiative to help Fiat and that this would comply with European rules. Commissioner Monti indicated to Member States that it was compulsory for them to notify any aid they intended to grant to publicly owned companies.
The Fiat group is the largest private company in the country and announced last week that it intended to get rid of 8,100 jobs (around 20% of its workforce) in an effort to confront the difficulties facing it. According to the press, the Italian government is currently considering "market options" in order to avoid an economic and social earthquake, as well as State participation in the company, which would enable the manufacturer to increase its capital from EUR 4 billion to EUR 5 billion in order to make good the deficit (EUR 1.2 billion in 2002 according to some analysts).