Brussels, 13/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the Commission reached a political agreement on new rules on services of general economic interest (SGEI) but the texts still have to be finalised and will not be published before Friday. A Commission spokesperson explained that there was no substantial differences but wanted to reserve the right for Neelie Kroes to be first to present this agreement to the press. The Commissioner for competition in charge of this case will explain the rules on funding for public services by the public authorities and to companies responsible for performing services of general economic interest. These companies will not be overpaid for their services but will be able to make reasonable profits. The Commission intends to exempt public funding of less than EUR 30 million from preliminary notification and which is granted to any enterprise that has an annual consolidated turnover of EUR 100 million. By adopting the report by Dutch MEP Sophia in't Veld (ALDE), the European Parliament recommended lower thresholds of 15 and 50 million euro respectively and extended opportunities for enterprises benefiting from exemptions in the transport sector. The Commission is expected to finally exempt notification for compensation given to air and sea links with islands when traffic is less than 300,000 passengers a year. Land transport, as well as hospitals and social housing are expected to remain outside the field of application of this regulation on “mini” state aid.