L 235/24 Official Journal of the European Union 23.9.2003 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 13 May 2003 on the State aid which Belgium plans to grant to Volvo Cars NV in Gent (notified under document number C(2003) 1485) (Only the French and Dutch texts are authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2003/665EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above ('), Whereas: PROCEDURE The planned aid was notified to the Commission by letter dated 15 May 2002. The Commission requested further information by letters dated 25 June 2002 and 20 August 2002, to which Belgium replied on 23 July 2002 and 18 September 2002. The Commission decided on 27 November 2002 to initiate proceedings pursuant to Article 88(2) of the Treaty (decision to open the formal investigation proce- dure), as it had doubts as to the compatibility of the aid with the common market. Belgium submitted its comments in response to the opening of proceedings by letter dated 28 January 2003. The Commission decision to initiate proceedings was published in the Official Journal of the European Commu- nities (), with an invitation to interested parties to submit their comments on the aid. However, no comments from interested parties were received. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID The beneficiary of the aid would be Volvo Cars NV, which is located in Gent and is owned by Ford Motor Company. The Volvo Gent plant currently assembles the () 0] C 2, 7.1.2003, p. 2. () See footnote 1. Volvo S60 and S 70 models. As of 2003, Volvo intends to produce the new Volvo V40 and S40 models in the plant. Volvo intends to spend around EUR 27,58 million on training existing and 1 400 newly-employed staff in the period 2002 to 2004. The eligible training cost, taking into account that the trainees' personnel costs may not exceed the total of the other eligible costs, amounts to EUR 15180 393. According to Belgium, the eligible investment includes elements of  specific  training amounting  to EUR 4294 532. The general training cost amounts to EUR 10 885 861. Belgium proposes to grant training aid of around EUR 6,51 million (net present value EUR 5,88 million) over a period of three years, from 2003 to 2005. The proposed aid is to be granted as ad hoc aid from the Vlaamse Gemeenschap for specific training (approxi- mately EUR 1,07 million) and general training (approxi- mately EUR 5,44 million). With a view to the new investment in the plant, the major departments at Volvo Cars — the welding plant, the paint shop, the final assembly plant, the logistics department and the engineering department — drew up a project aimed at improving the skills both of new employees and of employees already working for the company. The training scheme can be divided into 11 training sub-units: knowledge of machines, knowledge specific to posts or tasks, PC training (MS Office etc.), technical knowledge (electricity, electronics, mechanics, robotics etc.), quality (ISO, auditing, etc.), costs, mainte- nance tools, improvement tools (six sigma, TPM, etc.), safety, personal skills, environment.