Brussels, 24/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 24 January, the European Commission approved the regional aid maps for Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania for the 2007-13 period. These decisions will form part of the new guidelines for re-orienting regional aid to the most deprived areas of the expanded EU (EUROPE 9095). The Commission has already approved the maps for 18 other member states (EUROPE 9333).
A regional aid map defines the regions of a member state that can benefit from investment aid, without infringing EC treaty rules on state aid and competition. Without the preliminary approval from the Commission for this map, no aid can be allocated. According to a DG Competition press officer, both Italy and the Netherlands have failed to submit their maps for the 2007 period. He explained that this situation could present a problem for these countries, as retroactive authorisation cannot be granted.
Maps for Belgium, Denmark, France and Portugal still have to be examined by Commission services. (cd)