European Commission expands investigation into Nürburgring

The European Commission wants to determine whether the measures taken by the government of the Rhineland-Palatinate region to save the Nürburgring complied with market conditions. It also wants to ensure that the companies involved in the operation of the German route are viable without state support.

« The European Commission has extended the scope of an in-depth investigation opened in March 2012, under EU state aid rules, into a package of aid measures for the racing circuit and leisure park of the Nürburgring in Germany, explains the official press release. This extension concerns several additional financial measures aimed at avoiding the immediate bankruptcy of the companies concerned. At this stage, the Commission is not certain that the measures were granted on market terms and that the companies are viable without continued state support. The extension of the in-depth investigation gives interested third parties the opportunity to submit their comments on the additional measures subject to examination; it in no way prejudges the outcome of the investigation. »

« The Commission considers that these additional measures are closely linked to other aid measures which it has been investigating since March 2012 due to doubts as to whether they were granted on market terms. She questions whether the Nürburgring was already a company in difficulty in 2008, when it received the previous aid. Due to its significant distorting effects on competition, aid for rescuing or restructuring companies in financial difficulty can only be granted to a given company once over a period of ten years. »