As follows from the latest report of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the amount of state aid granted in 2009 exceeded PLN 19 billion. The bulk of money went to undertakings from the following voivodeships: Mazowieckie, Śląskie and Dolnośląskie

President of UOKiK is responsible for monitoring State aid and preparing the annual report. According to the recent report, the total value of support in 2009 amounted to PLN 19.17 billion (EUR 4.43 billion) , a year before – PLN 14.38 billion (EUR 3.32 billion) including over PLN 3 billion for transport (EUR 693 272 941). According to critieria applied by the EC, analyses of granted aid are made with the exclusion of the transport sector. Most common form of assistance were, as in 2005-2008, tax concessions and grants (85.4 percent of aid value excluding aid in transport).

Among the institutions providing aid last year, marshals of voivodeships rank first – they provided support in the amount of PLN 3.48 billion (EUR 804 196 612), i.e. 3 billion PLN more than in 2008. Subsequent positions are occupied by the Chairman of Supervisory Board of the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (2.7 billion PLN; EUR 632 945 647) and the Chief Executive Officer of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (2.38 billion PLN; EUR 549 996 533). It is worth noting that the support granted by the President of the Management Board of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management increased nearly 50-fold – from almost PLN 16 million (EUR 3 697 455)  in 2008 to over PLN 765 million (EUR 176 784 600) in 2009.

Over PLN 5.37 billion (EUR 1,24 billion) was distributed within the horizontal aid, compared to PLN 4.92 billion (EUR 1,14 billion) the year before. Most resources were allocated to employment (decrease from PLN 2.96 billion in 2008 to PLN 2.79 billion in 2009 (EUR 644 743 835), environmental protection (increase from PLN 896.6 million to PLN 1.37 billion (EUR 316 594 643 ) and trainings (increase from PLN 369.8 million – EUR 85 457 444 – to PLN 671.6 million – EUR 155 200 702).

The aid for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises decreased by more than PLN 431 million (EUR 99 600 212) – from PLN 460.3 million in 2008 (EUR 106 371 178) to PLN 28.5 million in the next year (EUR 6 586 092). Most of these resources were allocated for consultancy services for employees – as much as PLN 25.2 million (EUR 5 823 492). The reason for the decline in State aid for this group of beneficiaries was the change in rules of granting it.  In 2009, aid was granted to SMEs e.g. as regional aid and aid for research and development.

In the case of sectoral aid, funds increased from PLN 2.52 billion in 2008 (EUR 582 349 270) to PLN 2.66 billion (EUR 614 702 008) in the following year. Energy companies benefited from the largest support, as part of compensation for the voluntary termination of long-term contracts for sale of power and electricity – PLN 2.13 billion (EUR 492 223 788). The increase in the value of sectoral aid is associated with the increase in support for the energy sector by PLN 375.2 million (EUR 86 705 335).

The value of regional aid totalled PLN 7.75 billion (EUR 1,79 billion), a year earlier – PLN 4.04 billion (EUR 933 607 561). Most of these resources – PLN 6.65 billion (EUR 1,54 billion) – were allocated to support new investments. Furthermore, under the regional aid, PLN 558.4 million (EUR 129 041 203) went to entrepreneurs for the implementation of large investment projects and PLN 270.9 million (EUR 62 602 546) for creating new vacancies.

Among the voivodeships, similar to 2008, the entrepreneurs from: Mazowieckie (PLN 2.35 billion; EUR 543 063 804), Śląskie (PLN 2.30 billion; EUR 531 509 255) and Dolnośląskie (PLN 1.59 billion; EUR 367 434 659) benefited mostly from the aid. The smallest support was granted to entrepreneurs from Podlaskie Voivodeship (PLN 311.4 million; EUR 71 961 731) and Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (PLN 299.6 million; EUR 69 234 857). It is in Podlaskie Voivodeship where the most dynamic increase in the value was recorded as compared to 2008 – the value of support has almost doubled (in 2008 it amounted to PLN 155.9 million; EUR 36 027 083).

The biggest beneficiary of the aid was the railway company Przewozy Regionalne – PLN 1.53 billion (EUR 353 569 200). PKN Orlen ranked second, having received, as a biofuel producer, assistance amounting to PLN 750.3 million (EUR 173 387 562). Next in line are PGE Elektrownia Opole (PLN 519,9 million; EUR 120 144 200), PGE Elektrownia Turów (PLN 477,8 million; EUR 110 415 270), PKP Intercity (PLN 392,8 million; EUR 90 772 537) and Grupa Lotos (PLN 317,5 million; EUR 317 500 000).

Support for entities with strong market position constitutes a greater risk of distortion of competition than in the case of small and medium enterprises. Therefore, UOKiK is concerned about the high value of aid given to large companies. In the recent years it rose from 44 percent in 2007, 50.9 percent in 2008 to 53.9 percent in 2009. However, it is good that private enterprises benefited from the greatest support – 73.9 percent of the total amount of aid – it is also an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared to the previous year. State-owned enterprises, sole shareholder companies of the Treasury and local government units received in total only 3.4 percent of the total value of State aid*. This is a good trend, because private entities  provide better use of resources.

New aid schemes and effective use of the existing ones cause that each year the value of support to entrepreneurs increases. In comparison with 2008, the amount of regional aid increased the most, mainly due to the increase in support co-financed by EU funds provided under the regional operational programmes.

The social research conducted by UOKiK in 2009 demonstrates that every ninth small business and every third undertaking operating on an international scale applied for State aid.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl.  Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel. (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]

* The abovementioned data does not include aid in the transport sector