Brussels, 26/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - In an interview given to four daily newspapers (“Les Echos”, “Financial Times”, “Financial Times Deutschland” and “Expansion”), Neelie Kroes anticipated the initial direction on Wednesday for the reform of state aid. The aim of the Commissioner for Competition is clear: “less state aid and, above all, better state aid”. Her spokesperson confirmed that the reform will affect all the rules on state aid, but the main changes anticipated by Ms Kroes concern regional state aid, innovation and SME aid, and some aspects of procedure. In general terms, Ms Kroes intends to “demonstrate political courage” to advance with this dossier, and thinks that it “must be said that state aid granted to a company with no regard for long-term profitability can only save jobs in the short term”.
Within the EU 25, “we must benefit regions which really need public money”, said Ms Kroes, who wants to “put an end to regional state aid in the richer countries of the Union, at least above certain sums”. In the end; regional state aid could therefore be beneficial for regions in the new Member States. This kind of targeting could go back to a situation where disparities between the regions of a Member State in terms of living standards or employment are not taken into account, but rather only the overall situation in each Member State. According to the Commissioner's spokesperson, this will not affect the special rules for the Länder of the former East Germany.
Innovation aid, on the other hand, should be favoured according to Ms Kroes, who is recommending that “the emphasis be placed on aid in favour of research and innovation” and that there be “particular attention paid to SMEs”.
Ms Kroes also emphasised that “we should simplify and accelerate procedures”. This means that the Commission should adopt a communication on state aid, which would preview legislative proposals, “before the summer”, probably in March or April.
In liberalised sectors such as energy, transport or financial services, “we should ensure that businesses do not replace the regulatory barriers which existed before the markets were opened up with abusive practices such as cartels”, said Ms Kroes. With regard to the recapitalisation of the Landesbanken in Germany, she recognises that negotiations “are proceeding with difficulty” and said that she did not yet have all of the business plans. She reiterated her intransigence regarding the date for re-financing the seven banks, which must take place before July 2005 “otherwise our measures will be neutralised” (see EUROPE of 20 January, p.10).