EC agrees aid for German shipbuilders

The European Commission has approved a ?27 million scheme in Germany to provide innovation aid to shipbuilding. The scheme is the first of its kind to be approved after the entry into force in January 2004 of the Commission?s framework on state aid to shipbuilding. The framework introduced revised rules on aid in support of innovation in the shipbuilding sector, in line with the goals of the Lisbon agenda, and more specifically the goals of the LeaderSHIP 2015 programme to improve the sector?s competitiveness.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: “Economic growth and higher employment will only result if we improve innovation in all areas of the Single Market. The aid proposed here by the German Government is exactly the kind of focused, innovation-based aid that can bring real benefits to the European economy.”

Under Germany?s new scheme on innovation aid to shipbuilding, shipbuilders will be able to benefit from state aid in support of the industrial application of products and processes the implementation of which carries a risk of technological or industrial failure, and which are technologically new or represent a substantial improvement over the state of the art in the EU?s shipbuilding industry. The aid can be up to 20% of the expenditure related to the innovative part of the project. Over the next four years, the German Federal Government has budgeted some ?27 million for this purpose.