[autom.vertaling] De Commissie machtigt investeringshulp aan Frenzel Kyffhäuser Tiefkühlkost GmbH in Duitsland (en)

The European Commission has today decided to terminate the formal investigation into the support for investments carried out by the vegetable processing company Frenzel in Thuringia, Germany. The Free State of Thuringia will grant a state guarantee for loans used by the company for acquiring assets of a processing plant. The state guarantee will amount to € 1 861 103 and covers 65% of the outstanding amount of the loans. After a preliminary examination, the Commission had doubts whether the measure complied with state aid rules and therefore opened the formal investigation procedure in the year 2001.

The investment project is a vegetable processing plant with several processing lines as well as a refrigerator installation with a potato ventilating system and two freezer units. The purchase price amounted to € 3 016 622. For this investment, the company has taken out three different loans, which amounted to a total of € 2 863 235. The state guarantee, which covered 65% of the amount loaned was granted by the Thüringer Aufbaubank (Thuringia reconstruction bank) with priority given to the creditor on the agreed collateral.

After a preliminary investigation, the Commission concluded that the guarantee constituted aid both to the lender and the borrower. The aid to the lender seemed to be an operating aid. As regards the aid to the borrower, it could not be excluded that the aid intensity exceeded the thresholds normally accepted by the Commission for investment aid. Moreover, it was not clear whether the beneficiary had to be considered as a firm in difficulties, which would mean that the aid had to be assessed on a different legal basis. It was therefore necessary to open the formal investigation procedure and request more information from the German authorities in order to provide a proper assessment of the measure.

Within the formal investigation procedure, the German authorities have clearly demonstrated that the beneficiary cannot be considered as a firm in difficulties. They have also demonstrated that the measure does not contain an aid element in favour of the lender. Moreover, the German authorities have provided the necessary information for a proper assessment of the measure. Thus, the Commission was able to terminate the proceedings and authorise the relevant measure, finding that it is compatible with the common market.