Staatssteun aan bedrijven is relatief het hoogst in de 10 nieuwe EU-lidstaten (en)
The 10 new members of the European Union spend more than the old ones in state subsidies to businesses as a percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP), but this is likely to be corrected as they overcome problems specific to their economies prior to accession. In absolute amounts, however, they granted an annual average of €6 billion in the four years 2000-2003 compared with €34 billion for the EU-15 in 2002, the latest EU State Aid Scoreboard reveals. An EU-25 Scoreboard will be published in the spring.
"The new Member States have done a remarkable job in adapting to a market economy and in keeping business subsidies under control. The EU-15 has also in the last few years responded positively to a call for less and better aid. But more must be done by all 25 countries to further reduce the overall levels of aid and to shift the emphasis from supporting individual companies towards increasing Europe's competitiveness through aid to research and development, environment, cohesion and other horizontal policy objectives," said Competition Commissioner Mario Monti.
The 8th edition of the State Aid Scoreboard introduced in 2001 shows that the overall level of national State aid[1] granted by the 10 new Member States was estimated at an annual average of just under €6 billion between 2000 and the end of 2003 compared with the €34 billion spent by the EU 15 Member States in 2002[2].
The three largest economies of the new Member States were the most generous in absolute terms. Poland granted the biggest amount (average of €2.4 billion a year), followed by the Czech Republic (€1.9 billion) and Hungary (€0.6 billion) (see table below).
The overall level of State aid in the 10 increased from €4 billion in 2000 to just under €8 billion in 2003. But this is linked to the difficult transition from centrally planned to market economies and the specific problems in a few sectors, such as the crisis in the Czech banking sector (which cost the state €2.4 billion in 2002) and the restructuring of the Polish coal sector (€3.9 billion in 2003). The doubling in aid also reflects a special tax relief in Cyprus for international businesses and the restructuring of the Maltese shipbuilding and ship repair sector. All of the above measures are either being phased out under transitional arrangements or limited in time.
On average, State aid in the new Member States amounted to 1.42% of GDP over the period 2000-2003. This is significantly higher than the EU-15 average of 0.4% in 2002, with Malta (3.9 %), Cyprus (2.9 %) and the Czech Republic on the high end and the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) with around 0.2 % well below the EU-15 average. But if the specific difficulties or adjustments were excluded, the average would drop to 0.67% of GDP.
The State Aid Scoreboard can be consulted on the Commission's Competition website:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/state_aid/scoreboard/
The Lisbon Council of 2000 called on Member States to reduce the overall level of subsidies and to shift the emphasis from supporting individual companies or sectors towards tackling horizontal objectives such as R&D, the environment, cohesion and small and medium enterprises.
In this respect, aid for horizontal objectives accounted for around 22% of total aid in the new Member States compared with 73% in the EU-15 in 2002. However, it is encouraging to note that the vast majority of aid measures qualifying as existing aid and thus continuing after accession are earmarked for horizontal objectives.
Table: State aid in the new Member States, 2000 - 2003
[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]
[1] Total national aid less agriculture and fisheries
[2] The last year for which figures are available