Press Release: State aid: Commission orders recovery of €642 million in unlawful aid paid to Sernam

Following an in‑depth investigation, the European Commission has concluded that the conditions governing the authorisation of restructuring aid of €503 million for Sernam have not been met and that the aid is incompatible with the EU rules on state aid.

The Commission's investigation also revealed that the privatisation of Sernam has resulted in fresh aid of nearly €100 million. This aid comes on top of the €41 million in aid deemed incompatible in a previous decision of October 2004, which has not yet been recovered. All these subsidies have given Sernam an unfair economic advantage over its competitors and they must be repaid in order to allay the distortion of competition they have provoked in the internal market.