WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2240/97 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Single Market in the repair and maintenance of aircraft
11. 3. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 76/81 The setting up of reception centres for asylum seekers and displaced people in Greece may, under certain conditions, be eligible for Community cofinancing. It should be clearly framed as a pilot project, including a proper evaluation mechanism. Particular attention will be given to the establishment of new reception infrastructures to meet the immediate needs of displaced people in situations of mass influx. Furthermore, the establishment of such a reception centre should be intended to implement the instruments adopted by the Council in the fields of asylum procedures and unaccompanied minors (1). (1) Council Resolution of 20 June 1995 (OJ C 274, 19. 9. 1996); Council Resolution of 26 June 1997 on unaccompanied minors who are nationals of third countries (OJ C 221, 19. 7. 1997). (98/C 76/170) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2240/97 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (2 July 1997) Subject: Single Market in the repair and maintenance of aircraft Following representations from aircraft maintenance companies based at Southend Airport in my constituency, what specific statistics does the Commission hold by Member State of state subsidy given to the repair and maintenance of aircraft, rather than to the aviation sector in general? Does the Commission plan to undertake further assessments in this respect? Will the Commission bring forward further proposals to ensure free competition in the repair and maintenance of aircraft, and at what date does the Commission expect a full Single Market in this sector to be in operation? Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (4 September 1997) The Commission does not possess any specific statistics about the aid which Member States award to the aircraft maintenance industry. The production of such statistics would be extremely difficult since the aircraft maintenance industry does not belong to the so-called sensitive sectors for which there are specific frameworks on state aid by which the Member States are obliged to notify any aid individually to the Commission. Consequently, Member States may award aid to the aircraft maintenance industry on the basis of aid schemes which were previously approved by the Commission without being obliged to notify any aid individually if this aid follows the lines of the approved scheme. As a further consequence, the Commission is, in these cases, not informed about individual cases and may not produce statistics about aid to those sectors. Nevertheless, although the aircraft maintenance industry is not regarded as being a sensitive sector in the above mentioned sense, the Commission has sufficient instruments in order to ensure competition within this sector in the single market. Thus, the different horizontal frameworks and guidelines, such as for example the research and development (R&D) framework or the Community guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring of firms in difficulties, which were prepared by the Commission and which apply to all industrial sectors allow the Commission to control effectively state subsidies to the aircraft maintenance industry and to avoid undue distortions of competition. In this context and as an example, the Commission would stress that, by applying the Community guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring of firms in difficulties, it only recently closed its proceedings under Article 93(2) of the EC Treaty against aid which was awarded by the German Land Niedersachsen to ASL Lemwerder, an enterprise specialising in aircraft maintenance