France/Czech Rep.: European Commission approves state aid to transport sector

Brussels, Belgium, 25th May 2009; The European Commission has announced not to raise any objections under the EC Treaty state aid rules to the financial support of the transport sector in France. The French approach particularly supports urban CNG buses and service trucks and also mentions biomethane. The Commission also decided positively on the Czech state aid request which supports projects for constructing and upgrading alternative refuelling stations for public transport operators.

The official decision by the Commission to authorize the French state aid programme was already made on 17th December 2008 (see attachment), but the original wording of the Commission's approval was not published until 25th May. Starting 1st January 2009, henceforward, the French state is able to financially support the French transport sector until end of December 2014.

According to this new law, the French state will grant subventions for the acquisition of urban NGVs, such as buses and garbage trucks.

End of April, the European Commission authorized Czech financing of infrastructure to develop clean transport in Severovýchod. The Czech aid scheme, between 2009 and 2014, will support the provision of alternative refuelling stations in order to improve the ecological public transport infrastructure in the northeast region of Severovýchod.

The Commission already stressed in its 2007 Green Paper on urban mobility that public authorities should support an efficient public transport infrastructure and, more specifically, new infrastructure for the distribution of alternative fuels, as a way to promote the operation of clean energy efficient vehicles.

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CONCEPT OF STATE AID

Article 87 (1) EC declares state aid to be incompatible with common market. This means that in principle state aid is prohibited unless it can benefit from some of the exemptions in the Treaty.

The Concept of State Aid is ‘objective'; the aim or intention of the granting authority does not matter for determining the nature of a measure. The Commission will only examine whether there is;

- transfer of state resources,
- economic advantage: the aid reduces the costs normally borne in the budgets of the beneficiary undertakings,
- selectivity: the aid favours certain undertakings or the production of certain goods,
- distortion of competition, and
- affect on trade between the member states.

For more information on legislation and decisions concerning state aid in the transport sector, please refer to DG Energy and Transport, State Aid Section.

NGVA Europe... for sustainable mobility

State Aid in the Transport Sector

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State Aid in the Transport Sector

COMM decision 17th Dec 2008 on French state aid [C(2008) 8452]

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COMM decision 17th Dec 2008 on French state aid C2008 8452

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