EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, C(2007) PUBLIC VERSION WORKING LANGUAGE This document is made available for information purposes only. Subject: State aid N 324/2007 – Italy Regional aid map 2007-2013 Sir, 1. PROCEDURE 1. On 21 December 2005, the Commission adopted the ‘Guidelines on National Regional Aid for 2007-20131 (hereinafter “RAG”). In accordance with paragraph 100 of the RAG each Member State should notify to the Commission, following the procedure of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, a single regional aid map covering its entire national territory which will apply for the period 2007-2013. In accordance with paragraph 101, the approved regional aid map is to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and will be considered as an integral part of the RAG. 2. By e-mail dated 12 June 2007, registered at the Commission on the same day (A/34871) together with further submissions on 14 June 2007, registered at the Commission on the same day (A/34955 and A/34957), Italy notified its regional aid map for the period 1.1.2007 – 31.12.2013. 3. By letter dated 27 July 2007 (D/53175), the Commission requested further clarifications. This information was submitted by e-mail dated 12 September 2007, registered at the Commission on the same day (A/37388). Further information was submitted on 24 September 2007 (A/37679). 1 (OJ C 54, 4.3.2006, p. 13) S.E On. Massimo D’ALEMA Ministro degli Affari esteri P.le della Farnesina 1 I - 00194 Roma Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles – Belgique Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel – België Telefono: 00-32-(0)2-299.11.11 4. Two meetings were held in Brussels with the Italian authorities on 5 and 11 October 2007 and, as a follow-up to these meetings, on 17 October 2007 (A/38517) new data and some amendments to the original notification were submitted. 2. DESCRIPTION 2.1. Main Characteristics of the Italian Regional Aid Map 5. The new Italian national reference framework establishes the basis for regional programming for the period 2007-2013 in such a way as to allow continuing progress both towards the convergence of the Italian economy with the Community average and the convergence of the economies of the Italian regions amongst themselves. Furthermore, even within the Italian regions with a greater level of development, particular attention is given to certain specific areas. 6. The assisted population quota assigned to Italy by the new RAG for the period 2007-2013 implies, in absolute terms, a reduction of 10% of the total Italian population; nonetheless most of the Southern regions are and will continue to be eligible as Article 87(3)(a) areas for the entire period 2007-2013 or as statistical effect regions. 7. Thus, there is a substantial reduction in the population eligible for coverage under the derogation of Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty. Consequently only 3.9% of the total Italian population can be allocated to assisted areas eligible under Article 87(3)(c) to cover the needs of the Central and Northern regions as well as Sardinia. 8. Therefore, in order to designate the eligible regions under the derogation of Article 87(3)(c) the Italian authorities gave priority to areas where possible investments would be most likely to contribute effectively to regional development and to the continuity of ongoing economic policies. As a result, most of the areas proposed for the 2007-2013 map were already eligible for assistance in the 2000-2006 map and some proposed areas fully overlap with the previous ones, only reduced in size compared to the period 2000-2006. Few of them are completely new and they are proposed as areas where specific economic sectors are facing a serious relative decline. 9. For the reasons above mentioned and as described in detail in the following sections, the Italian proposal tries to optimise the population quota assigned in order to cover the largest possible number of areas, whilst nevertheless maintaining a strong focus on the regions most in need. - 2 - 2.2. Article 87(3)(a) EC regions proposed for the whole period 2007-2013 10. The following NUTS2-II regions and population coverage are proposed for eligibility under the derogation of Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty for the whole period 2007-2013 at a basic aid ceiling of 30%: NUTS Name Population3 Code ITF3 Campania 5.788.986 ITF4 Puglia 4.068.167 ITG1 Sicilia 5.013.081 Total 14.870.234 11. The following NUTS II region and population coverage is proposed for eligibility under the derogation of Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty for the whole period 2007-2013 at a basic aid ceiling of 40% for the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2010 and at a basic aid ceiling of 30% for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013: NUTS Name Population Code ITF6 Calabria 2.009.268 12. The total population of the above-mentioned regions amounts to 16.879.502 inhabitants. 2.3. Article 87(3)(a) regions: Statistical effect regions 13. The following NUTS-II region and population coverage are proposed for eligibility under the derogation of Article 87(3)(a) EC until 31 December 2010 (statistical effect region) with an aid ceiling of 30%: NUTS Name Population Code ITF5 Basilicata 596.546 14. In 2010 an assessment will take place on the basis of the then available three year average of GDP per capita. If the GDP per capita falls under 75% of the EU-25 average, the region will remain eligible under the derogation of Article 87(3)(a) EC with an aid ceiling of 30%, if not it will become eligible under the derogation of Article 87(3)(c) EC with an aid ceiling of 20%. 2 Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 154, 21.06.2003, p. 1) 3 For the purpose of the national regional aid map, the population data is the one elaborated from ISTAT and it concerns the population on 31.12.2004 (total population = 58.462.375). - 3 - 2.4. Article 87(3)(c) regions designated at NUTS III level or below and proposed for the whole period 2007-2013 2.4.1. The use of the census areas as elementary building block for the definition of the assisted areas 15. Italy uses the “census area”4 as elementary building block for the selection of the Article 87(3)(c) areas affirming that under RAG 2007-2013, the selection is no longer made at the level of NUTS III or equivalent, as it was the case under RAG 2000-20065 and that the only remaining requirement is a minimum population of at least 100 000 or 50 000, respectively under paragraphs 30.c) and 30.h). 16. The census area represents the lowest territorial delimitation from an administrative point of view, with an average size of around 150 – 170 inhabitants. 17. Concretely, the proposed map is built-up using for 2/3 entire municipalities and for the remaining 1/3 partial municipalities6 delimited at the level of census areas. 2.4.2. The Article 87(3)(c) regions designed at NUTS III level or below and proposed for the whole period 2007-2013 18. On the basis of annex V of the RAG, the Italian population coverage of the areas falling under derogation of Article 87(3)(c) is 3.9% of the Italian population which represents 2.280.033 inhabitants. 19. The selection of the assisted regions has involved both the regional and the central administrations in a bottom-up process. For distributing the available 87.3.c population ceiling between the Northern-Central regions, the Italian authorities applied an internal distribution key which was afterwards amended by a political compromise. As a result of this process, 22 assisted areas have been selected for a total of 2.280.029 inhabitants. 2.4.3. Regions designated under paragraph 30 (a) of the RAG: Economic development regions 20. Under the political compromise above-mentioned, the economic development region of Sardinia (NUTS II), which could be entirely eligible under paragraph 30.a) of the RAG, accepted to exclude 44,9% of its population, proposing therefore only 55,1% of its population as eligible for regional aid (909.619 out of 1.650.052 inhabitants). However all the communes of its territory are at least partially eligible pursuant to the derogation under Article 87(3)(c) EC for the whole period 2007-2013. 4 D.P.R. 30/05/89 n. 223 'Approvazione del nuovo regolamento anagrafico della popolazione residente' 5 Guidelines on national regional aid – O.J. C 074 , 10/03/1998 6 In total, for the zones under Article 87.3.c, Italy proposes 869 communes, out of which 605 are totally eligible and 264 are only partially eligible - 4 - Maximum Maximum Code of the aid intensity aid intensity NUTS Name Population zone (%) (%) Code 01.01.2007 01.01.2011 SAR1.A25.04 ITG2 Sardinia 909.619 25% 15% 2.4.4. Regions designated under paragraph 30 (c) of the RAG 21. Under paragraph 30(c) of the RAG, Member States can propose regions which form contiguous zones with a minimum population of at least 100 000 and which are located within either NUTS-II or NUTS-III regions which have either a GDP per capita of less than the EU-25 average, or which have an unemployment rate which is higher than 115 % of the national average, (both calculated on the average of the most recent 3 years of Eurostat data).