The European Commission has concluded that Slovakia's €125 million investment aid to Jaguar Land Rover is in line with EU State aid rules. Jaguar Land Rover is investing €1.4 billion to build a car manufacturing facility in the region of Nitra (Slovakia), an area eligible for regional aid under EU State aid rules...
Slovakia notified the Commission of its plans to grant €125 million of public support for the project. This represents the maximum aid that can be granted for such a project under the Commission's Guidelines on Regional State Aid for 2014-2020, which enable Member States to support economic development and employment in EU's less developed regions and to foster regional cohesion in the Single Market. The Commission's in-depth investigation opened in May 2017 established that without the investment aid, the project would not have been carried out in Nitra or more generally Europe but in Mexico. It also showed that the aid was limited to the minimum necessary to trigger the decision by Jaguar Land Rover to carry out the investment in Slovakia rather than Mexico. Finally, the Commission found that the investment aid will contribute to job creation as well as to the economic development and to the competitiveness of a disadvantaged region, without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market. Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner in charge of competition policy, said: "Our investigation confirmed that Slovakia's €125 million public support to Jaguar Land Rover for its project to build a new car plant in the region of Nitra is in line with our State aid rules. Our investigation revealed that the aid was necessary for Jaguar Land Rover to invest in Europe rather than in Mexico. We also found that the measure will contribute to job creation and to the economic development of a disadvantaged region without unduly distorting competition."