European Commission considers the state aid to BDZ permissible
09.09.2014
A special letter of support sent by DG "Competition" to the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Nikolina Angelkova, says that the European Commission considers the state aid for restructuring of BDZ permissible.
The letter comes as a result of the talks held last week in Brussels, during which Minister Angelkova provided additional analyses and arguments for accelerating the process for notification of state aid to BDZ by the European Commission as a necessary condition for future negotiations with the creditors to obtain clear parameters and allow the normal functioning of BDZ.
"... In our recent meeting you informed me about the progress of Bulgaria’s negotiations with the international creditors of BDZ and requested me to provide you with DG Competition’s view on the planned cancellation of 172 million BGN of debt that BDZ incurred prior to Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union in 2007", reads the letter, signed by Gert-Jan Koopman, Deputy Director General of "State aid policy” in DG Competition.
The letter of support states that "…in relation to the cancellation of 172 Million BGN of debts incurred prior to Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007, I can inform you that based on the information provided to us by the Bulgarian authorities this measure appears to fulfil the conditions laid down in the Community guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings which provides a basis for declaring the cancellation of debts of railway service providers incurred prior to the accession to the EU (or prior to the liberalization of the sector).”
"The support that we have from the European Commission is very important for us to renew the dialogue with the creditors of the state railways. A meeting with the creditors and the bondholders of the company is to be set to discuss the possibility of rescheduling. The first step has already been made, as the EC states with the letter that the legislation on competition is not being violated and that BDZ may be granted state aid", said Minister Angelkova and added that there is still a lot of work to be done to improve the financial situation of the company.
"Holding BDZ and we, as a principal of the company, have already shown that we are taking concrete actions to implement the commitments to the creditors, such as regular monthly payment of amounts due and we are ready to continue the constructive dialogue", said Minister Angelkova. |