Subject: Redundancies at Siemens Gamesa in Spain and EU aid
The company Siemens Gamesa has announced that it will close its plants at As Somozas (A Coruña) and Cuenca, with the loss of 266 jobs. The firm cited a lack of orders for its current blade model and said it was now impossible to manufacture competitively. Last year it also decided to close its plant in Agoitz (Navarre).
Bearing in mind the growth expectations for installed wind power capacity needed in the EU to meet the EU’s energy and climate goals and commitments, and given that, as reported in the press, this company has received a considerable amount of EU aid as well as funding from the European Investment Bank, can the Commission say:
1. How much state aid has this company received? Specifically, has the As Somozas plant benefited from EU aid?
2. Does the Commission consider this aid to be compatible with job losses and the dismissal of hundreds of employees, a good number of them in Galicia?
3. Will the Commission take steps of some kind to assess and prevent the relocation elsewhere of companies of this kind?
Answer given by Executive Vice-President Vestager on behalf of the European Commission (29 March 2021)
The Commission is not aware of Siemens Gamesa receiving state aid in Spain, including the As Somozas plant.
According to information from the Spanish Managing Authority, Siemens Gamesa has not received financial support from the European Social Fund or the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Subsidiaries of Siemens Gamesa have however received grants and reimbursable support from ERDF, mainly for projects for research, development and innovation (RDI) implemented in the regions Castilla y Leon, Pais Vasco, Galicia, Navarra and Madrid (1).
The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced in 2020 that it would support Siemens Gamesa with an investment loan of up to EUR 300 million in order to help it implement its RDI plan for the 2020-2023 period in the field of on-shore wind power generation technologies and related services. However, funding provided directly by the EIB with no discretion on the part of the national authorities is not considered state aid.
In general, under state aid rules, the Commission requires companies that receive regional investment aid, to maintain the investment in the area concerned for a period of at least five years.
Furthermore, the Commission does not support state aid that would encourage the relocation of services or production to another Member State. EU State aid rules contain safeguards in this sense. However, as mentioned above, there is no indication that the company received any state aid in this case.
The European Globalisation Fund for displaced workers (2) as well as the European Social Fund (3), through its operational programmes at national (4) and regional (5) levels, can support workers facing structural changes (6).
REACT-EU can also support job creation and small and medium-sized enterprises.
⋅1∙ EUR 2 346 516 in 2014-2020 and EUR 1 835 082,18 in 2007-2013.
⋅2∙ European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=326
⋅3∙ Website of the Spanish authority in charge of managing ESF, Unidad Administradora del Fondo Social Europeo (UAFSE):
http://www.mitramiss.gob.es/uafse/es/properativos/index.htm
⋅4∙ National ESF OP ‘Empleo, Formación y Educación’ (POEFE): https://www.mites.gob.es/uafse/es/po-completo/poefe/index.htm
⋅5∙ The regional ESF Operational Programme of Castilla-La Mancha: https://fondosestructurales.castillalamancha.es/ and the ESF OP of Galicia:
https://www.conselleriadefacenda.es/areas-tematicas/planificacion-e-fondos/periodo-comunitario-2014-2020/programas-operativos-2014-2020/po-fse-galicia- 2014-2020
⋅6∙ The 2021-27 regulation is in the process of being adopted: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2446