The Commission approved the map of Greece for regional aid in 2022-2027
The European Commission approved, in accordance with EU rules. for State aid, the map of Greece for the granting of regional aid from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2027, in the context of the revised regional aid guidelines (“RAG”).
The revised RAG, adopted by the Commission on 19 April 2021 and entered into force on 1 January 2022, but Member States to support most disadvantaged European regions to make up for income and unemployment – cohesion goals at the heart of the European Union. They also provide increased opportunities for Member States to support regions facing transitional or structural challenges, such as population decline, to make a full contribution to practice and the digital transition.
At the same time, the revised RAGs maintain strong safeguards to prevent Member States from using public money to encourage the relocation of posts from an EU Member State. to another, which is essential for fair competition in the single market.
The regional map of Greece identifies the regional regions that are eligible for regional aid. The map also sets the maximum aid intensities in the selected regions. The aid intensity is the maximum amount of State aid that can be granted per beneficiary, and is expressed as a percentage of the selected investment costs.
Under the revised RAG, regions covering 82.34% of the population of Greece will be eligible for regional investment aid:
12 regions (North Aegean, South Aegean, Crete, Eastern Macedonia, Thrace, Central Macedonia, Western Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Ionian Islands, Western Greece, Central Greece and Peloponnese) are among the most disadvantaged regions. GDP per capita below 75% of the EU average
These areas are eligible for aid under Article 107 (3) (a) TFEU (the so-called “a” areas), with maximum aid intensities for large enterprises between 30% and 50%, depending on the GDP per capita of the respective area “a”. The area of Evritania, which belongs to Central Greece, is also selected as a sparsely populated area with less than 12.5 inhabitants per kilometer. In sparsely populated areas, Member States can be established to prevent or reduce population shrinkage.
For the regional disparities, Greece defined as so-called undefined areas “c” regions Western Sector of Athens, Eastern Attica, Western Attica and Piraeus, Islands. The maximum area intensities for the large companies of the Western Sector of Athens are 15%. The other areas “c” mentioned above border areas “a”. For this reason, the aid intensity in these regions increased to 25%, with the result that the difference between the aid intensity and the border areas “a” was limited to 15 percentage points.
Greece has the ability to further define so-called non-predefined areas “c” (up to a maximum of 1.16% of the national population). The specific designation of these areas may take place in the future and will lead to one or more amendments to the regional aid map approved today.
In all the above areas, the maximum intensities can be increased by 10 percentage points for investments made by medium-sized enterprises and by 20 percentage points for investments by small enterprises, for their initial investments with eligible costs up to 50 million euros.
Once a future Territorial Fair Transition Plan has been implemented in the context of the Fair Transit Fund request, Greece has the opportunity to announce the amendment to the regional map of measures adopted today, in order to implement a possible increase in maximum intensity in future Fair Transition areas. , as defined in the revised RAGs for areas “a”.
Record
Europe has always been characterized by significant regional disparities in economic prosperity, income and unemployment. Regional aid is intended to support economic growth in less-favored areas of Europe while ensuring a level playing field between Member States.
In the RAG, the Commission sets out the conditions under which regional aid can be considered compatible with the internal market and sets out the criteria for identifying areas which meet the conditions of Article 107 (3) (a) and (c) of the Treaty. for the operation of the compound (areas “a” and “c” respectively). The annexes to the guidelines identify the most disadvantaged regions, the so-called “a” regions, which include the outermost regions, and the regions of the GDP guidelines are less than or equal to 75% of the EU average. , as well as the predefined areas “c”, which represent former areas “a” and sparsely populated areas.
Member States may designate the so-called ‘non-predefined’ c ‘areas, up to a maximum predetermined coverage of’ c ‘(for the others also in Figures I and II of the Guidelines) and according to specific criteria. Member States must submit their proposal for regional community maps to the Commission for approval.
The non-confidential version of today’s decision will be published under number SA.100372 (in the State Aid Register) on the Competition DG website. New publications of state aid results on the Internet and in the Official Journal in the Competition Weekly e-News.