European Commission unhappy with Slovenia flag carrier plan
The European Commission is said to be dissatisfied with a draft of Slovenia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, which it must approve in order to allocate the country 1.6 billion euros in grants and 3.6 billion euros in repayable funds to soften the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. According to public broadcaster RTV SLO, European officials have expressed concerns over parts of the plan, including the 76 million euros which have been earmarked towards the creation of a new flag carrier. The Commission is currently in dialogue with the Slovenian authorities with the aim of making the best possible use of the funds to support economic recovery, in line with the European Union's priorities.
Slovenia will see the greatest decline in commercial flights and capacity in Europe this month despite government attempts to alleviate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through aid and subsidies. In February, both traffic and capacity at Ljubljana Airport will decline over 90% compared to the same month last year. This is despite Russia’s Aeroflot restoring operations to the Slovenian capital yesterday after eleven months, with a one weekly service from Moscow with a Sukhoi Superjet 100 planned for the foreseeable future. In total, there are 7.740 seats on sale to and from Ljubljana on commercial flights this month. In January, the airport handled under 5.000 passengers.
On the other hand, the European Commission has approved the five million euros in aid the Slovenian government has granted to Ljubljana Airport’s operator Fraport. In a statement, Europe's executive body said, “The European Commission has approved, under EU state aid rules, a five million euro Slovenian aid measure to compensate Fraport Slovenija, the operator of Jože Pučnik Airport, for the damage it suffered due to the coronavirus outbreak. The aid measure, which will take the form of a direct grant, will allow the Slovenian authorities to compensate the airport for revenue losses suffered during the period between March 17 and June 30, 2020”. The aid measure includes a claw-back mechanism, whereby any possible public support in excess of the actual damage received by the beneficiary will have to be paid back to the Slovenian state. Therefore, the risk of the state aid exceeding the damage is excluded.
0 Response to "European Commission unhappy with Slovenia flag carrier plan"
Post a Comment