Brussels, 19/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - During its meeting on Wednesday, the European Commission gave its go-ahead to a series of aid schemes. On the basis of the Council regulation that establishes a temporary defence mechanism (TDM) for countering unfair practices in the shipbuilding sector, it authorised Germany to implement an aid regime in favour of this sector.
It also approved aid to restructuring of the German air company LTD and rescue aid in favour of BBP Service GmbH (which operates in the energy production sector), and concludes that the subsidy paid by Germany to Linde AG to ensure continuity in deliveries of carbon monoxide to UCB was not State aid.
On the other hand, the Commission only partially approved the "Waste Resources Action Programme", an aid programme proposed by the United Kingdom for promoting waste recycling.
Furthermore, in the transport sector, the Commission considered that the French system of temporary compensation for additional safety costs incurred by Community airline companies after 11 September 2001 is not to be considered State aid.
The Commission also decided to approve a large part of the tax measures that Belgium plans to implement for the maritime transport sector. EUROPE will come back to these authorisations in greater detail.