Press Release: State aid: Commission concludes that the French tax scheme for “fiscal economic interest groupings” (EIGs) constitutes state aid

Following an in-depth investigation opened in December 2004 (see IP/04/1484), the European Commission has come to the conclusion that the tax scheme for financing assets leased by an economic interest grouping (EIG) constitutes state aid within the meaning of the EC Treaty’s rules on such aid. The scheme, which has mainly benefited the maritime transport sector, constitutes state aid owing to the selective advantage it confers on certain sectors and to the discretionary nature of its conditions of grant. The scheme is incompatible with the common market, with the exception of the aid to facilitate the development of rail transport (Article 87(3)(c) of the Treaty) and of such other aid measures as may be compatible under sectoral or regional rules. For reasons of legal certainty, the recovery of the unlawful, incompatible aid is limited to aid granted since the decision to open the formal investigation procedure was published. France must now amend the fiscal EIG scheme to bring it into line with the state aid rules.