The European Commission has ordered Sociedad Estatal de
Participaciones, the owner of shipyards in Spain, to repay irregular state aids of 111
million euro ($130 million) plus interest to Spanish authorities.
The EC said that the state aid, paid in 1998 to the publicly-owned
merchant shipyards in Spain, was not compatible with the conditions of a 1997 Commission
decision approving a package of restructuring aids to the yards.
The original aid package approved in 1997 had included special tax
credits to compensate the yards for the absence of any possibility of being able to
benefit from tax credits under Spain’s general tax consolidation system. However, Sociedad
Estatal de Participaciones was subsequently able to obtain tax credits under the general
tax consolidation system "by offsetting losses in one part of the group against
profits elsewhere," the EC said.
EC ORDERS SPANISH SHIP SUBSIDY REPAYMENT
EC ORDERS SPANISH SHIP SUBSIDY REPAYMENT
