Brussels, 29/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - Last week, the European Commission decided to approve a capital injection of EUR 297.5 million by the Belgian government into La Poste/De Post. La Poste/De Post, as an independent public enterprise and a limited company governed by public law since 2000, is exempt from corporation tax; it is also exempt from property tax on its real-estate assets used in the public service; and can receive a government guarantee to back its loans. During the examination of the notified measure to determine whether it constitutes state aid, it emerged that the exemption from corporation tax had not led to any transfer of state resources since the Post Office had registered accumulated losses over the period under consideration; and the guarantee had not conferred any advantage since no loans had been issued and the company tax exemption had not conferred any benefits. The Commission also authorised a cancellation of the provision for pensions linked to rights acquired between 1972 and 1992, which placed the Post Office in a similar position to that of a normal commercial enterprise. The Commission notes that its assessment was facilitated by the transparency of relations between La Poste/De Post and the Belgian Government and the separation of the accounts between activities subject to competition and public service activities.