Belgium: State aid for restructuring SNCB
Description
On 24 December 2009 the Belgian authorities contacted the European Commission regarding their intention to admit a restructuring aid for SNCB (Société Nationale des chemins de fer belges) of € 490 000 000.
The SNCB is the national railway company of Belgium. It comprises of administrative services, B-Cargo, SNBC Technics, SNBC Mobility and general services. Besides its activities in Belgium, SNBC also operated internationally (SNBC Mobility).
Global volumes of SNCB have gradually diminished, being 8130 Tkm on 2005 and 5591 Tkm on 2009. At the same time the returns have fallen from 461 million euros on 2007 to 326 million euros on 2009. According to the Belgian authoritied SNCB would benefit from restructuring and capital injections.
"Considering the foregoing including all compensatory measures granted by the Belgian authorities, the Commission considers that, in the specific circumstances of this case, the notified aid measures are not likely to cause undue distortion of competition." (par. 244 of the letter from the European Commission to Belgium - Brussels 3.6.2009 C(2009) 4016 final.
The commission notified that the aid measures communicated by the Belgian authorities are in line with the article 107, paragraph 3 of TFUE.
Any Evidence-Based Deliberation:
| Question | Result |
|---|---|
| Is there anything in the public record to suggest that evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed measure was considered during official deliberations? | |
| Is there any evidence that alternatives to the proposed measure were considered? | |
| Is there anything in the public record that suggests that empirical evidence informed the comparison across the alternatives available to government? | |
| Was such evidence identified? | |
| Is such evidence publicly available? | |
| Did the official decision-maker in question provide an explanation as to why a chosen measure was favoured over alternatives? | |
| Is there any evidence to suggest that potentially affected trading partners were consulted before the measures were taken? | |
| Is there any evidence that safeguards have been put in place to ensure that implementation of the initiative is transparent and non-discriminatory? | |
| Did the government state its intention to review the measure within one year of implementation? |
Date Discovered: 14/02/2011
Implemented: Yes
Date of inception: 24 Dec 2009
GTA Evaluation: Amber
Government Response:
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