The European Commission has approved a EUR 687 million Italian state aid to compensate the long-distance rail passenger operators for the damage suffered during the period between 1 July 2020 and 30 April 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictive measures that Italy had to implement to limit the spread of the virus.
The aid will be provided to the eligible beneficiaries in the form of direct grants.
During 1 July 2020 and 30 April 2021, passenger numbers fell by up to 90% compared to 2019 resulting a massive drop in transport volumes and revenues. At the same time, the long-distance rail passenger transport operators continued to face various costs, in particular additional expenditures to implement enhanced sanitary and hygiene measures. This led to serious liquidity problems, which risk jeopardising the competitiveness of rail transport operators.
The financial scheme will “enable Italy to compensate long-distance rail passenger operators on commercial lines for the damage suffered as a result of coronavirus related restrictions. We continue working closely with Italy and all other Member States to ensure that national measures to support all sectors that were hit by the crisis, including the rail sector, can be implemented as quickly as possible, in line with EU rules,” Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said.
In March and June 2021, the European Commission has approved two schemes totalling EUR 661 million to support the recovery of Italy’s rail sector. A EUR 511 million financing was provided to the rail operators providing long-distance services while a EUR 150 million scheme was delivered to the rail freight and passenger operators.
On 13 March 2020, the European Commission adopted a Communication on a coordinated economic response to the Covid-19 outbreak which allows Member States to compensate specific companies or specific sectors in the form of schemes for the damage suffered due and directly caused by exceptional occurrences, such as those caused by the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, on 19 March 2020, the EC adopted a State aid Temporary Framework to enable Member States to use the full flexibility foreseen under State aid rules to support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. The Temporary Framework will be in place until 30 June 2022, with the exception of investment support towards a sustainable recovery, which will be in place until 31 December 2022, and of solvency support, which will be in place until 31 December 2023.
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