13.11.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 29227 COMMISSION DECISION of 8 July 1999 on State aid granted by Germany to Groditzer Stahlwerke GmbH and its subsidiary Walzwerk Burg GmbH (notified under document number C(1999) 2264) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/720/EC, ECSC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article 4(c) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Protocol 14 thereto, Having regard to Commission Decisions No 3855/91/ECSC of 27 November 1991 (*) and No 2496/96/ECSC of 18 December 1996 (%) establishing Community rules for state aid to the steel industry, Having given notice to the parties concerned to submit their comments in accordance with the abovementioned provisions, and having regard to those comments, Whereas: 1. Procedure (1) By letter dated 6 June 1997 Germany notified the Commission, under Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty, of the financing measures that preceded and accompanied the privatisation of Groditzer Stahlwerke GmbH (Groditzer) and its subsidiary Walzwerk Burg GmbH (Burg). (2) By letter dated 5 August 1997 the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 6(5) of Decision No () OJ L 362, 31.12.1991, p. 57. () OJ L 338, 28.12.1996, p. 42. 2496/96/ECSC in respect of the state aid involved. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure which was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (’). The Commission gave notice to interested parties to submit their comments on the measures. (3) Germany supplied the Commission with further information and papers by letters dated 23 September and 13 November 1997; 24 July, 14 August and 14 October 1998; and 7 and 20 January, 1 February and 29 March 1999. Meetings between the Commission and Germany took place in January 1998, on 1 December 1998, and on 11 March and 23 and 29 April 1999. (4) The Commission has received observations from interested parties; it forwarded these to Germany, and Germany commented by letter dated 27 April 1998. 2. Detailed description of the measures 2.1. Notification (5) In the notification of 6 June 1997 Germany stated that in the years 1992 to 1996 Groditzer received financing amounting to DEM 263,7 million. This was made up of DEM 207,3 million in shareholder loans provided by the successive public shareholders in the company, DEM 53,4 million in bank loans guaranteed by the Treuhandanstalt privatisation agency and its successor the Bundesanstalt fir Vereinigungsbedingte Sonder- aufgaben (BvS), and DEM 3 million as an outright grant. A further DEM 8,4 million was paid to Groditzer separately under the joint Federal Government/Lander regional development scheme, the Gemeinschaftsaufgabe Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur. Germany also informed the Commission that the last public shareholder, Beteiligungs-Management-Gesellschaft mbH (BMGB), had sold Groditzer and its wholly owned subsidiary Burg to  Georgsmarienhiitte =~ GmbH (Georgsmarienhiitte) on 1 January 1997. The sale of Groditzer and Burg had cost BMGB a total of DEM 393 million, mainly as a result of the waiver of the () 0] C 395, 31.12.1997, p. 5.