Brussels, 07/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption on the opinion on State aid to businesses running service of general economic interest (SGEIs) at the plenary session of 29 and 30 September, the Committee of the Regions is calling for the rules for this kind of aid to be made clearer. The rapporteur, Socialist MP and President of the Region of Tuscany, Claudio Martini, acknowledges that this is an extremely complex issue. "This is a decisive point for the future (…), as European traditions lie within this field", added Claudio Martini.
Emphasising the breakthrough in this field that was the Altmark Trans ruling of 24 July 2003, the CoR believes that "the intervention of the Community judge allowed us to plug the gaps in Community legislation, which did not define rules providing adequate legal security for service of general economic interest". What needed to be determined was in which cases aid could be considered a violation of competition, especially as services of general interest (electricity, gas, etc) are indispensable to citizens' daily lives, notes the CoR in a press release, pointing out that the ruling required a definition of the public service mission the aid beneficiary is responsible for. "The local authorities must make more of an effort to define public service contracts", stressed Mr Martini; who takes the view that "this can only contribute to greater transparency and the democratic taking of responsibility in the management of services of general interest".
The CoR feels that first of all, community normative provisions should be drawn up, because as Claudio Martini points out, "a legal decision is not legislation", and "uncertainty at legal standard levem can lead to disputes". He added that the criterion of the Court's ruling providing that "the beneficiary is selected by a call for tenders, making sure that the compensation does not exceed the costs of a well-run business with adequate means to provide the public service" is not always observed. The CoR has amended Claudio Martini's opinion, calling for education and social services of general interest, as well as public hospitals and social housing, to be excluded from the prior notification obligation. In a press release, the CoR points out that under this ruling, compensation paid for the provision of such services does not constitute State aid, and is thus not subject to the prior notification obligation. However, four conditions must be met: -the beneficiary's public service mission must be clearly defined; -the parameters on the basis of which the compensatory payments are calculated must be established beforehand in an objective and transparent way; -the compensation may not exceed the cost incurred by the provision of the public service less the income from the provision of the service in question; -the beneficiary is selected by a call for tenders procedure aiming to ensure that the compensation does not exceed the costs of a well-run business with adequate means to provide the public service.