Commissie veroordeelt Italiaanse staatssteun aan gedupeerde boeren in Sardinië (en)
The European Commission has adopted a decision declaring EUR 2.5 million in aid to compensate meat processing and marketing undertakings for lost income as a result of the Bluetongue outbreak in Sardinia to be incompatible with the rules on state aid.
The measure in question provides for aid for undertakings processing and marketing agricultural and livestock products that have incurred a fall in income of over 20% (least favoured agricultural areas) or 30% (other areas) relative to the average for the last three years. The aid is intended to compensate losses due to the shortage of raw material for processing and is limited to the losses associated with the fall in supplies from the members of cooperatives.
Aid to compensate farmers for the damage incurred as a result of a livestock disease is governed by the Guidelines on State aid in the agricultural sector, which lay down a number of conditions that must be met if an aid scheme is to be deemed compatible with the rules.
In 2001 the Commission opened the investigation procedure against this measure, which was provided for in Article 5 of the Italian Law of 25 October 2000; it approved the other aids provided for in that same Law1.
Italy has offered no comment to dispel the doubts raised when the procedure was opened. In particular, the Commission noted that none of the conditions laid down in the above Guidelines had been met since, under the Guidelines, only losses incurred by the production sector could be compensated, but not losses incurred by those involved in the processing and marketing of agricultural products. The existence of a direct link between the reduction in supplies from the members of the undertakings or cooperatives due to bluetongue and the loss of income sustained in the same period has not been proved.
The measure, for which a budget of some EUR 2 582 280 had been earmarked for 2000, has therefore been declared incompatible with the rules on state aid because it distorts competition. Italy has two months from the date of notification of the Commission's Decision to inform it of the measures taken to comply with the Decision.
1 See IP/01/62 of 17 January 2001