De Europese Commissie keurt staatssteun Finland af (en)

Brussels, 13 July 2011 - After careful investigation, the European Commission has found that financing granted by the local government of Åland to Ålands Industrihus Ab (ÅI), a state-owned commercial property company, was well below market prices and amounted to a subsidy that is not allowed under EU State aid rules.

The aid has given the company an unfair advantage over its competitors that have to operate without such subsidies. The Commission has therefore ordered Finland to recover the aid of around €4.7 million, plus interest, from the company situated in the Åland islands, located in the Baltic Sea between mainland Finland and Sweden.

The Commission's in-depth investigation, opened in 2008 (see IP/08/134), covered several capital increases and guarantees for bank loans that were granted to ÅI by the local government for the purpose of developing the "iTiden" office park in Mariehamn, the regional capital.

The Commission's investigation showed that the return the local government expected on its investments was much lower than the return a private investor would have demanded, and that the public guarantees were also priced below market levels. Consequently, the company received funding on much better terms than other firms, which had to obtain financing on the private markets, thus giving ÅI an unfair advantage over its competitors.

In order to remedy this distortion of competition, the decision therefore requires Finland to recover the aid from ÅI with interest from the time at which the aid was granted .The exact amount to recover will have to be determined by the Finnish authorities, but can be assessed at around €4.7 million before interest.

Background

The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number C 6/2008 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News.