29/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the European Commission will publish its new roadmap on state aid, looking at changes over a five year period, from 1997 to 2001. The statistics show that the overall level of aid in the EU increased by 1% on average in 2001 on 2000 (from EUR 85.2 bn to EUR 86 bn). Germany, France and Italy cut the level of aid they grant, while the UK increased its state aid by 70% to around EUR 10.5 bn, an increase largely due to the problems faced by rail.