Press Release: State aid: Commission requests Greece to recover more than €230 million of illegal aid from Hellenic Shipyards

The European Commission requested that Greece, following an in-depth investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules, recover more than €230 million of illegal state aid from Hellenic Shipyards S.A. (HSY). Between 1996 and 2002, Greece implemented 16 separate aid measures for HSY, at a time when the yard was in difficulty. The Commission found that several of these aids were granted to HSY by the Greek State and the then State-owned bank ETVA in the form of loans, guarantees and capital injections without prior authorisation from the Commission and, in addition, they were incompatible with state aid rules. The Commission also found that Greece and HSY failed to respect conditions attached to the aid it had authorised in 1997. All of these measures, worth more than €230 million, benefited the civil commercial activities of HSY giving it an unfair advantage over its competitors. They therefore have to be recovered with interest from HSY. The Commission also found that some measures investigated, worth tens of millions of euros, do not constitute state aid, some are compatible aid, and some supported the production of military ships for the Greek Navy and are therefore exempted from EU state aid rules.

European Commission: MEMO/08/469: State aid: Commission requests Greece to recover €230 million of incompatible aid from Hellenic Shipyards - frequently asked questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/469&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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