Italië krijgt gedeeltelijk toestemming voor staatssteun aan autobedrijf De Tomaso Cutro in Calabrië (en)
The European Commission has partially approved under EC Treaty state aid rules investment aid to De Tomaso Cutro for its envisaged greenfield car production plant in Cutro (Calabria, Italy). After an in-depth investigation, the Commission concluded that part of the aid proposed by Italy was necessary for the investment to be carried out and was compatible with EC Treaty rules requiring Member States not to granting aids or subsidies liable to distort competition within the Single Market (Article 87), but that part of the proposed aid was not compatible with state aid rules.
The beneficiaries of the aid are two companies, `Società Consortile De Tomaso s.r.l.' and `UAZ Europa s.r.l.', which belong to the De Tomaso group, a very low volume car manufacturer. In December 2002, Italy notified regional aid amounting to €179 million in 2003 prices in support of a proposed €207 million investment project for the production of off road and sports vehicles. The investment takes place in a region eligible for regional aid up to 50 % of eligible investment costs.
In July 2003, the Commission opened a formal state aid investigation procedure as it had doubts about the compatibility of the aid with the specific state aid rules for the car sector. According to these rules aid to the car sector notified before January 2003 has to be both necessary for the realisation of the project and proportional to the seriousness of the problems it intends to solve.
As for necessity, the aid recipient must clearly prove that it has an economically viable alternative location for its project. Italy indicated that the investment could have been carried out at Timisoara (Romania) for the off road model, and Modena (Italy) for the sports cars. The Commission concluded that the identified production sites were effectively an economically viable alternative and that the project can be considered mobile.
As for proportionality, the Commission concluded that the investment costs eligible for aid under EU rules amount to around €136 million. Furthermore, the Commission found that the proposed aid is higher than what is necessary to compensate for the additional costs of carrying out the project in Italy. The Commission has established that the aid necessary for the project amounts to €81 million, expressed in 2003 prices. Consequently, only this amount has been authorised by the Commission.
Former framework for state aid for the car industry
Since the case was notified in 2002, it was assessed under the state aid framework for motor vehicles in force at the time. The framework expired in December 2002. From January 2003, the motor vehicle sector has been integrated into the new
Multisectoral Framework on regional aid for large investment projects. According to the new, simpler rules, projects in the motor vehicle sector are eligible for aid up to 30% of the maximum allowable for each region (compared to up to 100% under the old rules). This case was the last notified case to be assessed under the old car framework.