La UE ha sancito che la SEA deve ripagare €360 milioni di denaro pubblico ricevuti tra il 2002 ed il 2010 in quanto un'indagine condotta dalla UE stessa ha stabilito che i finanziamenti erano incompatibili con la legge Europea che regolamenta gli aiuti di Stato ed avrebbero quindi fornito alla SEA un ingiusto vantaggio competitivo.
Questa la notizia integrale come riportata da ATW news.
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The European Commission has ruled that Milan airport operator SEA must repay around €360 million ($477 million) of state aid, following an in-depth investigation undertaken in response to a complaint.
The Commission found that state-owned SEA, which operates Milan’s Malpensa and Linate airports, made repeated capital injections into its loss-making ground handling subsidiary SEA Handling between 2002 and 2010. These state subsidies, the investigation determined, were incompatible with EU state aid rules and gave SEA Handling “an undue economic advantage,” the Commission said.
It said that, as SEA Handling was in financial difficulties throughout the period concerned, it could have lawfully received state aid under the conditions set in the EU Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines. “However, the capital injections did not meet these criteria,” the Commission said. “SEA Handling's business plan failed to demonstrate on the basis of sound and reliable assumptions how the company could become viable and operate without continued state support. Neither did it contain evidence that SEA Handling would be contributing to the cost of restructuring. Finally, it did not foresee any compensatory measures to minimize the competition distortions brought about by the significant state support received.”
Because these conditions were not met, Italy must recover the aid received by SEA Handling in order to “restore the level playing field in the EU's internal market.”
The planned sale of SEA had to be scrapped due to a lack of investor interest. The initial public offering (IPO) was abandoned at the eleventh hour, reportedly intensifying a rift between two of the main shareholders, with some industry observers blaming a proposed price range that potentially over valued the company.
Questa la notizia integrale come riportata da ATW news.
***
The European Commission has ruled that Milan airport operator SEA must repay around €360 million ($477 million) of state aid, following an in-depth investigation undertaken in response to a complaint.
The Commission found that state-owned SEA, which operates Milan’s Malpensa and Linate airports, made repeated capital injections into its loss-making ground handling subsidiary SEA Handling between 2002 and 2010. These state subsidies, the investigation determined, were incompatible with EU state aid rules and gave SEA Handling “an undue economic advantage,” the Commission said.
It said that, as SEA Handling was in financial difficulties throughout the period concerned, it could have lawfully received state aid under the conditions set in the EU Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines. “However, the capital injections did not meet these criteria,” the Commission said. “SEA Handling's business plan failed to demonstrate on the basis of sound and reliable assumptions how the company could become viable and operate without continued state support. Neither did it contain evidence that SEA Handling would be contributing to the cost of restructuring. Finally, it did not foresee any compensatory measures to minimize the competition distortions brought about by the significant state support received.”
Because these conditions were not met, Italy must recover the aid received by SEA Handling in order to “restore the level playing field in the EU's internal market.”
The planned sale of SEA had to be scrapped due to a lack of investor interest. The initial public offering (IPO) was abandoned at the eleventh hour, reportedly intensifying a rift between two of the main shareholders, with some industry observers blaming a proposed price range that potentially over valued the company.
