Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-15-Speech-4-038"
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"en.20070315.3.4-038"2
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"Mr President, it has been a most interesting debate.
That is why I have followed up on the suggestion made by some of you that the Commission should provide user-friendly guidance explaining our rules clearly and simply. My services have now almost completed a full update of a vade mecum offering a concise overview of the basic EU rules on state aid. The vade mecum does not aim to provide an exhaustive description of the rules. Instead, it focuses on the issues that are most relevant for people involved in regional development. I hope to have this vade mecum on line on the DG Competition Europe website very shortly, in a couple of weeks time, and I would be happy to provide copies to interested Members.
I would now like to turn to four wider issues raised by some Members. Mr Smith mentioned the need for statistics. The Commission is working well with Eurostat on a regular basis. This May we will publish the Fourth Cohesion Report, which will include more statistics. Mr Smith also mentioned access to the transmission network for renewable energy. It is indeed vital and that is why the Commission takes the view that full structural unbundling of energy markets is the best solution to the problems of concentration and foreclosure of new entrants we have experienced in these markets.
Several Members suggested the need for a specific unit on islands in DG Regional Policy. I will certainly take good note of this, but, as you are aware, it is my colleague, Mrs Hübner, who is taking the decisions here and not me. I am sure she will examine your idea carefully.
Finally, we will look carefully at your proposal for designating 2010 as the Year of Islands, but I assure you that the Commission will continue to pursue the best interests of islands in 2007, 2008 and 2009, so do not think that we are neglecting this important issue. On the contrary.
Let me start by congratulating the rapporteur, Mr Musotto, on his report – which I did not do in my opening remarks –and for bringing this issue before us today in the first ever report dedicated to islands. He has made history!
Much has been said this morning about state aids, and I should like to respond to that first. Again, operating aid – aid aimed at reducing a firms current expenses – is normally prohibited. It is prohibited in the Treaty and it is prohibited by the regional aid guidelines, because of its highly distortive effect. That being said, it can be granted exceptionally in the poorest regions that are lagging behind in terms of regional development.
The regions that can benefit from operating aid are, as you are aware, the 87(3)(a) regions, which are the outermost and sparsely populated regions, provided that a number of conditions are fulfilled. In the poorest regions and, again, the 87(3)(a) regions, operating aid can be authorised only on a case-by-case basis, provided it is limited in time, degressive, proportionate, and designed to tackle specific structural handicaps.
In reply to Mrs Sudre, as you are aware, the Commission accords a particular status to the outermost regions, given their remoteness and specific constraints on integrating into the internal market.
For islands other than outermost regions, a generalised approach based on the characteristics of these regions seems rather difficult. Enormous differences exist between island regions in Europe, and you are an example of that. They are characterised by a large diversity, and in terms of regional development and their GDP per capita, a significant number of large islands are rather wealthy, as some of you rightly pointed out. Granting operating aid to an island that has a GDP per capita among the highest in the EU would completely distort competition in the relevant markets without any justification in terms of regional development. Thus, the Commission cannot accord the status of assisted area to all European islands, given their extreme diversity.
In response to Mr Arnaoutakis, I note that subsidising fuel and energy costs constitutes operating aid. Such aid can only be authorised if the general conditions – which I have just touched upon – are fulfilled. It must not prop up structurally loss-making activities, particularly those that are very damaging, for example, to our environmental or climate change objectives. Furthermore, regional operating aid is certainly not the best instrument to tackle the local problems of islands.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the islands’ main problems can be tackled more effectively with horizontal instruments. For example, local services that are not economically viable can be supported through services of general economic interest. Work and investment for all kinds of infrastructure can be financed. They do not have an aid element and, in the case of very small islands in particular, the de minimis aid and the EUR 200 000 threshold can be sufficient, as I mentioned.
As regards Mrs Attwooll’s comment about the market investor principle, I believe that we can apply a more refined economic approach to assess situations of market failure in islands and proposed investments. However, as I have mentioned already, making the rules more predictable and more transparent and reducing the administrative burden of state aid notification are objectives of the state aid reform. I understand the specific concerns of smaller businesses, who have to try to pick their way through the state aid maze, and we agree upon this."@en1
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