Brussels, 18/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised environmental aid for an urban heating project in Rome, but on the condition that the ACEA group pay back an earlier grant of aid which has been ruled illegal. The environmental aid of 3.8 million EUR is to be granted by the Regione Lazio to AceaElectrabel, a subsidiary of the group ACEA, which operates in the energy sector and is controlled by the municipality of Rome. This municipality received aid at the same time as other companies controlled by municipalities in Italy, which was declared to be illegal by the Commission in 2002. Over two years later, the Commission said at the beginning of the year (EUROPE of 22 January) that no concrete measures had been implemented to get the aid back from various beneficiaries and decided to bring Italy before the Court of Justice. “With this decision, the Commission is reinforcing the application of rules on State aid by opposing the granting of further aid to companies which have previously benefited from illegal aid from a Member State which has not been reimbursed”, commented Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.