Brussels, 06/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President Romano Prodi will have a working meeting in Brussels on Tuesday with the French Home Affairs minister, accompanied by a delegation of some fifty Corsican deputies. Nicolas Sarkozy intends on that occasion defending the special tax status of the island. Following a Council decision of 1997, the Commission is indeed examining the arrangements for the gradual elimination of the tax advantages offered by some areas like Corsica and Madeira. A Commission spokesperson said on Monday that, as counterpart, the zones in question would receive the status of zones eligible for regional aid.
Messrs. Prodi and Sarkozy should, moreover, also discuss French State aid to Corsica, one of France's most subsidised areas. You may recall that the Commission opened a formal enquiry procedure in December on planned public aid by the French State to the restructuring of Societe nationale Corse Mediterranee that links Corsica to the mainland.