Press Release: State aid: Commission investigates support to Greek shipyard

The European Commission has decided to extend its formal investigation under EC Treaty State aid rules into aid granted by Greece to Hellenic Shipyards S.A. (HSY), based at Skaramangas near Athens. In 2004, the Commission opened an investigation into amendments to an investment plan financed by investment aid to HSY as well as into several loans and guarantees granted to the shipyard by the state-owned bank ETVA. The Commission has now extended this inquiry into several potential aid measures that Greece did not notify: capital injections, guarantees and loans received by HSY from public sources, for example in relation with railway contracts and with the construction of ferries, cross-subsidisation between HSY’s military and civil activities, and an indemnifying clause granted by the Greek State to HDW/Ferrostaal against the liability to repay unlawful aid received by HSY. The extension of the formal investigation will allow interested parties to comment on the additional measures under examination. It does not prejudge the outcome of the procedure.