Press Release: State aid: Commission refers Italy to Court for failure to recover aid from shipping companies in Sardinia

The European Commission has referred Italy to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to comply with a Commission decision of 2007 which found an aid scheme for Sardinian shipping companies incompatible with EU state aid rules. As Italy had not notified loans granted on preferential terms by the Sardinian region, it has to recover the difference between the terms at which they were granted and the then market rates. Four years later, this has still not been done.