Brussels, 13/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - The thorny issue concerning possible State aid from the Wallony Region and Charleroi airport to the low-cost airline Ryanair will come to an end late November or early December, when the European Commission gives its verdict.
In the meantime, the dossier continues to cause controversy, and the president of the Irish company, Michael O'Leary, has threatened to leave Charleroi if the European Executive declares the subsidies received illegal. "A negative decision could damage the growth of the low-cost air sector and also competition in Europe", the businessman said during a press conference. He stressed that he would appeal the ruling in any case before the Court of First Instance.
While the latest rumours are of a European veto, Gilles Gantelet, Spokesperson for Commissioner Loyola De Palacio responsible for the issue, stressed on Thursday that "many contradictory things" had been said over recent days concerning the Commission's stance on this issue on which it has not decided anything yet. "Our decision will be founded on respect of legal criteria", Mr Gantelet simply said, specifying that decision would be "fair" and "equitable" and, furthermore, could not be attacked in the Court of Justice. The spokesperson added that the decision would be instructive in so far as, for the first time, the Commission is tackling the matter of aid granted by a secondary airport to a low-cost company. Mr Gantelet, moreover, said that complaints concerning the installation of Ryanair in Strasbourg and Pau would not give rise to any opening of an official investigation before a solution has been found to the Charleroi dossier.