Press Release: Commission authorises aid for large-scale investment project in the bio ethanol sector in Germany

The European Commission on 7 June 2005 authorised Germany to pay national aid worth a total of €43 million to a subsidiary of Südzucker AG, Südzucker Bioethanol GmbH. The aid was to finance investment in a plant for producing bio ethanol as well as feedingstuffs from regenerating agricultural raw materials (cereals and sugar treacle) in Zeitz, (Saxony-Anhalt). With this large-scale investment project, new forms of utilization of cereals are created in an area with significant surplus cereal production. The project was seen to fit well into the positive framework created by the EU and Germany for the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewables.