Spain fined €20 million by European court over illegal industrial aid
State failed to recover financial assistance to companies that Brussels had deemed illegal
The European Court of Justice on Tuesday slapped a fine of 20 million euros on Spain for failing to recover financial assistance to a group of companies that the European Commission had deemed to be illegal.
The court also ordered the Spanish state to pay a fine of 50,000 euros a day until it complies with the order to cover the assistance.
The case concerns the Magefesa group of companies, which included Industrias Domésticas (Indosa), Cubetera de Norte (Cunosa), Manufacturas Gur (Gursa) and Manufacturas Inoxidables Gibraltar (Migsa). The companies manufactured stainless steel household items and small electrodomestic items.
The Basque government had granted Indosa a loan guarantee of 300 million pesetas (about 1.8 million euros), a further loan guarantee of 672 million pesetas (about 4 million euros) to a company set up to allocate aid to the Magefesa group and an interest rate subsidy of 9 million pesetas (54,000 euros). The European Commission in 1989 declared the aid to be in breach of common market rules.
The Court on Tuesday noted that the sums advanced had not been recovered even though the group remained in business until it declared itself bankrupt in 1994. The Luxembourg-based tribunal described the fine as a "deterrent" against future infractions of this nature.
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