Brussels, 21/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission authorised several State aid regimes in the sectors of air, maritime and rail transport. The Commission gave its green light:
to aid allocated by the autonomous community of Catalonia to the airline Intermed SL to help start up the air link between Gerona and Madrid. The aid paid to the airline between 2002 and 2005 comes to around a billion EUR. The Commission made its authorisation conditional upon a guarantee that this aid would be compatible with Community provisions. These conditions are similar to those established in the decision it returned in February on the Irish airline Ryanair. The aid must be: -necessary for the new lines to open, and in proportion to the targeted objective; -granted in full respect of the principles of transparency and of non-discrimination against any operator; -accompanied by a sanctions mechanism should the carrier fail to respect any of its obligations, and which cannot be cumulated with other aid measures, particularly those which are social in nature; -limited to three years and equate to a maximum of 50% of net start-up costs incurred. In future, they must be available to any airline wishing to fly out of Gerona.
to the social aid regime in favour of various air passengers from Guadeloupe wanting to fly to metropolitan France from Guadeloupe. The aim is to lessen the disadvantages affecting these persons, who have to pay far higher transport costs than people flying between States on the continent. This aid, of 100 to 300 EUR towards a return flight, will be paid to certain categories of passenger: young people under the age of 30, the over-60s, people on a low income, adults travelling with their families. It will be paid for regular flights between Pointe-à-Pitre, Saint-Martin and metropolitan France, independently of which airline was used.
to State aid to the airline Air Caraïbes, allowing it to fit out two Airbus A330-200s, which it has leased to start up an air connection between Guadeloupe and Martinique on the one hand, and metropolitan France on the other. This measure will help Air Caraïbes to reduce the capital costs needed to start up new routes. The Commission authorised this aid because: -most jobs this new activity will involve will be based in the two overseas departments in question; - it will help to balance out the specific disadvantages experienced by extremely remote areas; -its anti-competitive effects are limited; -it is not an "ad hoc" aid, because it comes under the framework of a general tax aid regime to promote investments in overseas departments approved by the Commission in November 2003.
to an aid regime of 503 million EUR for the restructuring of the French company Sernam, which operates in the sector of express and conventional deliveries, but it has asked for 41 million EUR of the aid to be paid back at a later date. This is in fact a confirmation of the decision taken by the Commission on this dossier in May 2001. However, it did impose a number of conditions on its authorisation. Sernam must gradually re-focus its activities on the rail sector within two years. Furthermore, if Sernam is bought out by another operator, the latter will not have to pay back the 41 million EUR.
to the granting of financial aid by the Flemish Region of Belgium to several ports situated on the Flemish coastline. This regime will be worth 342 million EUR during the period 2001-2004. Part will be used for construction and maintenance work, mainly dredging along the sea access routes leading into the ports of Antwerp, Bruges, Zeebrugge and Oostend, and for sea lock and internal access routes within these ports. The other part will go towards the construction and maintenance of port infrastructure such as docks, sea walls, jetties and loading berths.
to the introduction of flat-rate tax on the basis of tonnage, known as the Tonnage Tax, which Italy wishes to bring in to the maritime sector from 2004. The Commission takes the view that this aid regime is in line with the requirements of the Community guidelines on aid to maritime transport, and will help to boost the competitiveness of the Italian fleet against competition from third countries.