The European Commission authorises €450 million in aid to gas-intensive industrial companies

The European Commission has adopted the decision on the aid scheme "SA 106016", notified by the government to compensate the additional costs incurred in 2022 by industrial companies operating in Spain, resulting from the exceptional increase in natural gas prices.

For the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Héctor Gómez, "with this aid we reinforce our commitment to the sectors most affected by the war in Ukraine, and confirm that we continue to protect and promote our industry".

Once authorisation has been obtained from the European Commission, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism will approve the regulatory bases for this aid. The measure has a budget allocation of €450 million in the form of a subsidy from the General State Budget, and will be implemented through a call for applications that will be open to companies before the summer.

The assistance is underpinned by the European Commission's new Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (section 2.4). It will allow direct aid to be granted to gas-intensive companies, be they SMEs or large companies, before the end of 2023 to reduce the impact of the price of natural gas and the price of heat production in natural gas CHP plants.

The activities included in the aid line cover sectors such as ceramics, tiles, paper, glass, iron, steel, aluminium, synthetic fibres and foodstuffs, artificial and synthetic fibres, among others.

As a complement to this line of aid, the Council of Ministers approved on 27 December 2022 an ICO-Ukraine line of €500 million for companies in the gas-intensive industry to provide special public support for the financing of this sector, which is particularly affected by the increase in energy costs.

Non official translation