Today, the European Commission announced its approval, under EU State Aid rules, of the restructuring of Latvian bank, Parex, which was partially nationalized in November 2008.
Yesterday, the European Commission announced that it was termporarily approving, under E.U.
In November 2008, the European Commission (EC) found state aid granted by the Polish government to two Polish state-controlled shipyards (Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa and Stocznia Gdynia), illegal under EU single market rules and requested its return to the government with accrued interest. The EC decided however to postpone the enforcement of the return of state aid for seven months until 6 June 2009 to allow for the prior public sale of the shipyards’ assets at market price.
On 13 November 2009, the Commission approved a restructuring plan for ING Groep NV under the EC State aid rules. ING is a Dutch financial institution, offering its services in over 40 countries. In October 2008, the Commission approved the liquidity guarantees of €12 billion offered by the Dutch government to support ING during the economic crisis.
The Polish metal tools manufacturer, Bison Bial (Bison), will be able to receive state aid amounting to €8.2m in order to enable the company to carry out a restructuring programme to improve the firm’s economic viability. After Bison entered into financial difficulties, Poland notified the European Commission that it wanted to provide aid to the company. The Commission decided that such aid was compatible with EU state aid rules, provided that the investment programme is fully implemented and the company sells one of its production divisions by the end of 2009.
The Commission has opened a formal investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into a series of aids amounting to €40.7 million that Italy intends to grant to Legler S.p.A, a denim textile producer. The Commission doubts at this stage that the restructuring plan of Legler S.p.A. would restore the beneficiary's commercial viability and is concerned that the aid would create undue distortions of competition in this highly competitive market. The opening of the formal investigation gives interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed measures.
On 14 March 2008 the Court of First Instance (CFI) issued two orders rejecting applications for interim measures by two subsidiaries of a Polish steel producer (Buczek) to suspend the application of a Commission recovery decision pending the final judgment in the case. Between 1997 and 2003 Poland was granted a derogation from the general prohibition on restructuring aid to the steel sector. The derogation was conditional upon Poland implementing a restructuring plan. Aid was provided to Buczek, who failed to properly implement its restructuring plan and went bankrupt in 2006.
On 21 October 2008, after a year-long investigation, the European Commission (Commission) approved a restructuring plan designed to restore the viability of the French household firm FagorBrandt. The firm produces a range of large household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and stoves. The proposed restructuring plans will include the sale of certain activities and plant closures and a refocus on high added value products.
Last week, the European Commission (EC) announced that it has decided to further review Dexia’s restructuring plan under EC Treaty state aid rules to “establish whether the restructuring plan for the Dexia group will restore the group's long-term viability.” The plan includes a €6.4 billion capital injection, announced in
The European Commission has opened a formal investigation under EU State aid rules into financial aid totalling EUR 40.7 million that Italy intends to grant to Legler S.p.A., a denim textile producer. For several years Legler has had financial problems and is currently undergoing restructuring. To help with the restructuring, Italy proposes to grant loans of EUR 26.2 million, and to convert debts of EUR 14.5 million into capital.