Brussels, 11/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 10 December, the European Commission decided the €20 million in aid that Italy had planned to grant in the form of urgent measures to cope with the bird flu crisis in 2005 was not compatible with the rules on State aid in agriculture. The Commission had opened review procedure in July 2006 concerning an Italian decree-law (No202/05) providing for several measures including: - purchase by the Italian government of 17,000 tonnes of poultry meat and other poultry products to be used for humanitarian aid, the suspension of tax payments, social security contributions and bills for operators in the poultry sector, and aid for loans to convert and restructure poultry undertakings affected by the crisis in the poultry sector.
After review procedure, the Commission concluded that the disease was a recurring phenomenon and could not be considered an exceptional event that would qualify for derogation from the general ban on State aid. The guidelines for State aid in the agricultural sector also allow certain animal diseases to be classified as an exceptional event or a natural disaster because of the extent of the damage suffered but the Italian authorities were unable to provide any information that could justify the measures from the point of view of the rules applicable to State aid. Since no other legal basis had been put forward by Italy to justify the aid in question, the Commission concluded it was incompatible with the common market but, as the measures had been duly notified and the Italian authorities had not implemented them, there was no need to request recovery of the aid. (A.B./transl.jl)