EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Brussels, 13.IX.2006 C(2006) 4009 final. State aid N 487/2006 Hungary Regional aid map Madam, 1.

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1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 13.IX.2006 C(2006) 4009 final PUBLIC VERSION WORKING LANGUAGE This document is made available for information purposes only. Subject: State aid N 487/2006 Hungary Regional aid map Madam, 1. PROCEDURE (1) By dated 18 July 2006, registered at the Commission on the same day (A/35823) Hungary notified its regional aid map for the period By dated 7 August 2006, registered at the Commission on the same day (A/36319), Hungary submitted additional information. (2) On 21 December 2005, the Commission adopted the Guidelines on National Regional Aid for (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 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 an integral part of the RAG. 2. DESCRIPTION (3) The whole of Hungary was eligible under the derogation of Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty for the period between 1 May 2004 and 31 December Therefore, the Hungarian authorities propose that for the period also the whole country should be eligible to receive regional investment aid, although 1 OJ C 54, , p. 13 Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) Office: SPA3 05/55A. Telephone: direct line (32-2) Humbert.Drabbe@ec.europa.int H:\Direction-G\G-1\_forum\_Cases_2006\Maps_2007_2013\HU\Decision\Note to Tren.doc

2 sometimes under different derogations [Article 87(3)(a) or Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty] and at different aid ceilings. (4) All the proposed aid ceilings are those for investments by large enterprises. For medium sized enterprises these aid ceilings can be increased 2 by 10 percentage points and for small enterprises 3 by 20 percentage points (3)(a) regions: proposed for the whole period (5) The following NUTS II regions are proposed for eligibility under the 87(3)(a) derogation for the whole period at an aid ceiling of 50%: HU23 Dél-Dunántúl HU31 Észak-Magyarország HU32 Észak-Alföld HU33 Dél-Alföld (6) The following NUTS II region is proposed for eligibility under the 87(3)(a) derogation for the whole period at an aid ceiling of 40%: HU21 Közép-Dunántúl (7) The following NUTS II regions is proposed for eligibility under the 87(3)(a) derogation for the whole period at an aid ceiling of 30%: HU22 Nyugat-Dunántúl (3)(c) regions: Economic development regions (8) The NUTS II region of HU10 Közép-Magyarország is proposed for eligibility under the 87(3)(c) derogation for the whole period The underlying NUTS III region of HU101 Budapest is proposed with an aid ceiling of 25% until and an aid ceiling of 10% as from The other underlying NUTS III region of HU102 Pest is proposed with an aid ceiling of 30% for the whole period : HU10 Közép-Magyarország HU101 Budapest 25% -> 10% HU102 Pest 30% 3. ASSESSMENT (9) Since he whole territory of Hungary has indeed been eligible for the derogation under Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty for the period between 1 May 2004 and 2 Except for aid awarded in the transport sector and aid for large investment projects. 3 As defined in the Annex of Commission Regulation (EC) No 364/2004 of 25 February 2004 amending Regulation (EC) 70/2001, OJ L 63, , p. 22, or any successor regulation. 2

3 31 December , the whole of Hungary remains eligible for national regional state aid for the period , either under the derogation of Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty, or under Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty (3)(a) regions: proposed for the whole period (10) In accordance with paragraph 44 of the RAG, the aid ceiling for regions falling under Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty must not exceed 50% GGE for regions with less than 45% of average EU-25 GDP per capita, which is the case for the following NUTS-II regions as shown by their respective GDP per capita 5 : HU23 Dél-Dunántúl 41,36% HU31 Észak-Magyarország 36,10% HU32 Észak-Alföld 36,31% HU33 Dél-Alföld 39,44% (11) In accordance with the same paragraph of the RAG, the aid ceiling for regions falling under Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty must not exceed 40% GGE for regions with less than 60% of average EU-25 GDP per capita, which is the case for the following NUTS-II region as shown by its GDP per capita: HU21 Közép-Dunántúl 52,28% (12) In accordance with the same paragraph of the RAG, the aid ceiling for regions falling under Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty must not exceed 30% GGE for regions with less than 75% of average EU-25 GDP per capita, which is the case for the following NUTS-II region as shown by its GDP per capita: HU22 Nyugat-Dunántúl 60,37% (3)(c) regions: Economic development regions (13) The economic development regions are defined in paragraph 25 of the RAG as those NUTS-II regions which had a GDP per capita of less than 75% on an EU- 15 basis when the 1998 Regional Aid Guidelines were adopted, but which as a result of their economic development no longer meet that condition on an EU-15 basis. In Hungary, one NUTS-II region is concerned: HU10 Közép- Magyarország. (14) In accordance with paragraph 47 of the RAG, the aid ceiling for 87(3)(c) regions must not normally exceed 15%. Paragraph 47 of the RAG also foresees that the regional aid ceiling is reduced to 10% in the case of regions with both more than 100% of the average EU-25 GDP per capita and a lower unemployment rate than the EU-25 average, measured at NUTS-III level. Paragraph 93 of the RAG foresees that the reduction of aid ceilings for the economic development regions may take place in two stages, a reduction of at least 10 percentage points on and a final reduction at the latest on Decision not to raise objections to the regional aid map of Hungary for the period between 1 May 2004 and 31 December 2006 (HU 12/2003). 5 Gross Domestic Product expressed in Purchasing Power Standards per capita for the years (EU-25 = 100) 3

4 (15) In accordance with the provisions in footnote 45 of the RAG, a higher aid ceiling may be permitted in the case of a NUTS-III region, or smaller, adjacent to an Article 87(3)(a) region if this is necessary to ensure that the differential between the two regions does not exceed 20 percentage points. (16) One of the underlying NUTS-III regions of Közép-Magyarország is HU102 Pest County. It is bordering three Hungarian NUTS-II regions which are proposed for eligibility under the 87(3)(a) derogation at an aid ceiling of 50%: HU31 Észak- Magyarország; HU32 Észak-Alföld; and HU33 Dél-Alföld. It should also be noted that with a GDP/capita of 47,3% of the EU-25 average (on the basis of data for ), the level of development of HU102 Pest is similar to that of the surrounding regions, and is even below the GDP/capita figure of neighbouring HU21 Közép-Dunántúl, which is proposed for eligibility at an aid ceiling of 40%. Accordingly, the aid ceiling for HU102 Pest may be increased to 30%. (17) The other underlying NUTS III region of Közép-Magyarország is HU101 Budapest. Based on the averages of the years and , respectively, the NUTS-III region of Budapest had a GDP per capita of 116,0% and an unemployment rate of 43,5% of the EU-25 average. Therefore, according to paragraph 47 of the RAG, the aid ceiling for Budapest must not exceed 10% GGE. (18) As this region was eligible for an aid ceiling of 35% in the period , the proposed aid ceilings of 25% on and 10% on are in line with paragraphs 93 and 47 of the RAG. (19) It follows that the following aid ceilings should apply to the two NUTS III regions contained within the NUTS II region of HU10 Közép-Magyarország: Aid ceiling as from HU101 Budapest 25% 10% HU102 Pest 30% 30% 3.3. General provisions of the map (20) In accordance with paragraph 49 of the RAG, except for aid awarded in the transport sector, the preceding aid ceilings can be increased by 10% GGE for medium sized enterprises and 20% GGE for small enterprises. However, in accordance with paragraph 67 of the RAG no SME bonuses are allowed for investment projects with eligible expenditure exceeding EUR 50 million. (21) Following the assessment above, the aid ceilings for regional investment aid notified by Hungary for the period are in line with the aid ceilings allowed for under the RAG. (22) The Commission recalls that in accordance with paragraph 8 of the RAG, these aid ceilings apply to the processing and marketing of agricultural products only 4

5 to the extent laid down in the Community guidelines for State aid in the agriculture sector 6, or any replacement guidelines. (23) The Commission takes note of the following commitments given by the Hungarian authorities in the notification: (a) (b) (c) (d) The Hungarian authorities confirmed that all plans to grant regional aid will be notified to the Commission in accordance with Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty, either as an aid scheme, or as an individual notification unless a State aid exemption regulation applies. The Hungarian authorities confirmed that all regional investment aid will respect the ceilings defined in the region concerned in the regional aid map published by the Commission pursuant to this notification. The Hungarian authorities confirmed that for large investment projects the upper ceilings defined in respect of the region concerned in the regional aid map published by the Commission pursuant to this notification will be adjusted according to the formula in paragraph 67 of the RAG. The Hungarian authorities confirmed that all large investment projects for which the amount of aid proposed is more than the maximum allowable amount of aid an investment with eligible expenditure of EUR 100 million can receive under the scale laid down in paragraph 67 of the RAG, will be notified individually to the Commission Appropriate measures (24) By letter of 6 March 2006, reference D/(06)234, the Commission proposed appropriate measures to the Hungarian authorities by which, inter alia, the application of their existing regional aid schemes is limited until 31 December The Hungarian authorities accepted these appropriate measures unconditionally by of 5 April 2006, registered at the Commission on the same day. 4. DECISION (25) The Commission has accordingly decided: to consider the Hungarian regional aid map for as set out in the Annex to be compatible with the EC Treaty as it fulfils the conditions as stipulated in the Guidelines on national regional aid for This map is valid from 1 January 2007 until 31 December to publish the map as presented in the Annex to this decision in the Official Journal of the European Union. The full text of this letter in the 6 OJ C 28 of , p.2. Corrigendum OJ C 232, p

6 authentic language will be published on the Internet site: Any request concerning this letter should be sent by registered letter or fax to: European Commission Directorate-General for Competition Directorate for State Aid I State Aid Greffe B 1049 Brussels Fax No: Yours faithfully, For the Commission Neelie KROES Member of the Commission 6

7 Annex to the decision on case N 487/2006 Guidelines on National Regional aid for (OJ C 54, , p. 13) HUNGARY - National regional state aid map (Approved by the Commission on (NUTS ΙΙ REGION) (NUTS IΙΙ REGION) Ceiling for regional investment aid 1 (Applicable to large enterprises) Regions eligible for aid under Article 87(3) (a) of the EC Treaty HU23 DEL-DUNANTUL 50% 50% HU31 ÉSZAK-MAGYARORSZAG 50% 50% HU32 ÉSZAK-ALFÖLD 50% 50% HU33 DEL-ALFÖLD 50% 50% HU21 KÖZEP-DUNANTUL 40% 40% HU22 NYUGAT-DUNANTUL 30% 30% 2. Regions eligible for aid as regions of economic development under Article 87(3) (c) of the EC Treaty HU10 KÖZEP-MAGYARORSZAG HU101 BUDAPEST 25% 10% HU102 PEST 30% 30% 1. For investment projects with eligible expenditure not exceeding EUR 50 million, this ceiling is increased by 10 percentage points for medium sized companies and 20 percentage points for small companies as defined in the Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ L 124, , p. 36). For large investment projects with eligible expenditure exceeding EUR 50 million, this ceiling is subject to adjustment in accordance with paragraph 67 of the Guidelines on national regional aid for