the EU commission intimate to the Saremar to give back deep for 10,8 million euros distributed from the Sardinia Region



The EU commission has intimato to the Saremar - Regional Sardinia Marine Spa to give back to the Sardinia Region about 10,8 million euros distributed in 2011 and 2012 to the navigation company, whose share capital entirely is stopped by the Sardinian regional agency, in order to carry out marine connections useful to guarantee the territorial continuity of the Sardinia with the continent on the routes between Civitavecchia and Golfo Aranci and Vado Ligure and Porto Torres. According to the Commission, in fact, such distribution constitutes an aid of incompatible State with the specific norms of the European Union and these financings have given to Saremar an undue economic advantage regarding its competitors whom a distortion of the competition has determined.

The Commission has remembered that in the 2012 Saremar it has received an injection of capital by the Sardinia Region for 6,1 million euros. The Commission had tax to Italy to recover from the Saremar this figure as, according to Brussels, no operating private investor in market conditions would have accepted to invest in these conditions and in analogous circumstances and, therefore, such deep ones they constitute an aid of State since have given to Saremar an economic advantage regarding its competitors who must operate without public funds. Moreover - for the Commission - such aid of State is incompatible with the communitarian norms from the moment that it is not accompanied by the realization of a restructure plan that satisfies requirement established in the communitarian guidelines on the aids for the rescue and the restructure of enterprises in difficulty.

Now the Commission has established that the deep ones for about 10 million euros poured to Saremar in order to operate in 2011 and the 2012 two marine connections between the Sardinia and the Italian peninsula are not coherent with the communitarian norms on the services of general economic interest, norms - Brussels has remembered - that they preview that the suppliers of services publics can receive a compensation for the supported clean costs for the implementation of their obligations of public service if the parameters for the calculation of the compensation are established in advance and if the obligations of public service clearly are defined. On the contrary - it has specified the EU commission - when the effettuazione of these two marine routes is assigned to Saremar was not managed some relative shim mechanism to such activity neither the mandate to Saremar defined with clarity it obligation of public service tax to the company.

For the Commission, therefore, Saremar did not have right to some compensation and will have to give back the received sums. "The Member States the regional and authorities - it has commented the vice president and European commissioner for competition, Joaquín Almunia - are obviously free to finance the services of general economic interest. However, as expected from the norms of the EU, such services must be supported in transparent way on the base of obligation of public service clearly defined".

To conclusion of the investigation on Saremar, the EU commission has established moreover that two emitted letters of patronage from financial the Sardinia Region do not guarantee some obligation regarding the society and, therefore, does not constitute an aid of State to its favor. The Commission also has established that the advertising activities realized by Saremar are debited to market prices.