EU PROBES FRENCH AID TO LA ROCHELLE AIRPORT.

On 8 February, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess potentially unlawful public aid to the airport of La Rochelle (Poitou-Charentes, France). The airport has a total traffic of just under 200,000 passengers per year, and is operated and owned by the local Chamber of Commerce (CoC), and has been running deficits nearly every year since 2002. The chamber received subsidies of approximately 3 million between 2002 and 2005 from various public bodies (ERDF, Poitou-Charentes region, Departement de la Charente Maritime, etc) to finance various infrastructure projects at La Rochelle airport. The Commission has doubts...