State Aid SA.31722/SA.46615

The request was successful.

Dear DG COMP,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

All annual reports submitted by Hungary concerning State Aid cases SA.31722 and SA.46615. Including all information as agreed in SA.31722 and the prolongation SA.46615:

'The monitoring report will inter alia contain information on the total aid amount allocated on the basis of this scheme, the sport infrastructure projects funded, their aid intensities, their beneficiaries, the parameters applied for benchmarking prices, the rents effectively paid by the professional sport organizations, as well as a description on the benefits provided to the general public and on the multifunctional usage of the infrastructures.'

I am also requesting all communication between the European Commission and Hungary concerning these annual monitoring reports.

I believe there is an overriding public interest because this scheme should be transparent and include a control and monitoring mechanism, as emphasized by the commission in 4.11. and 4.12 of the decision taken on 9/11/2011. And because the Hungarian authorities and sport organizations have not fulfilled the transparency (as stated under 4.12.) that was promised:

‘The Controlling Authority will also publish on its webpage the investments/use of public funds it has decided to approve (and financed from the notified measure). The sport organization benefitting from state aid will be required to present the details (including financial ones) of the plan on its website, as well as the amount of public funding received by beneficiaries and its usage will be available for the general public.’

The commission clearly states that public funding is involved (75. ‘The funds used to provide the support under this scheme are derived from the fact that the State foregoes tax revenues. Consequently, State resources are involved in the scheme.’) but because of the general nature of the measure and the objective to improve the sports infrastructure the commission approved the sport support scheme. It is in the public interest to know if the scheme has been general and if the stated aims are being achieved.

Additionally, the Commission concluded that "distortions of competition arising from the state intervention are limited" because of the safeguards proposed by Hungary. Transparency was one of those safeguards. Since the Controlling Authority has not published on its webpage "the investments/use of public funds it has decided to approve (and financed from the notified measure)", as it promised according to section 4.12 (paragraph 58), it is important that the public can access the content of the annual reports, to assess whether the distortions of competition are still limited.

Yours sincerely,

Jesse Pinster

Dear DG COMP,

Let me add my address for future correspondence:

Jesse Pinster
Follow the Money
Gedempt Hamerkanaal 145
1021 KP Amsterdam, Nederland

Yours faithfully,

Jesse Pinster

COMP-ACCESS-TO-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu, Competition

Dear Sir ,

Thank you for your e-mail of 16/11/2021. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 18/11/2021 under reference number GESTDEM 2021/7130.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on 9/12/2021. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.

You have lodged your application via a private third-party website, which has no link with any institution of the European Union. Therefore, the European Commission cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system.

Please note that the private third party running the Asktheeu website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.

We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address).

Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the AsktheEU.org website.

If you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address, and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply from, the Commission.

Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents team
DG Competition-European Commission
MADOU-12-85 B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
email: [email address]

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COMP-C4@ec.europa.eu, Competition

4 Attachments

Dear Mr Pinster,

 

Please find enclosed the reply to your application for access to documents
dated 16/11/2021.

Reference:  GestDem No 7130/2021

 

Best regards,

 

COMP C4 SECRETARIAT

[1]cid:image001.png@01D45BF2.21AFCE50
European Commission
Secretary – Information, Communication, Media – State Aid
Directorate General for Competition – Unit C-4
Madou Building 26/26
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

 

References

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Dear Krzystof Kuik,

I write to you in reference to my access to documents request which was registered on November 16, 2021 with reference number GESTDEM No 2021/7130.

Thank you for making available the annual reports, but I also requested all communications between the European Commission and the Hungarian government concerning these annual reports concerning State Aid case SA.31722 and SA.46615. This would include but not but limited to any minutes of meetings, emails, letters concerning the annual reports.

I request you to make this information available because of the public interest and all reasons stated in the origanl request on 16 November 2021.

Yours sincerely,

Jesse Pinster

COMP-C4@ec.europa.eu, Competition

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Pinster,

 

Thank you for your email of 13 December concerning access to documents in
State Aid cases SA.31722 and SA.46615. Further to your request, we have
reviewed the files to identify all communications between the European
Commission and the Hungarian government concerning the annual reports.

Please note that there is only administrative correspondence in the files
concerning annual reports (such as cover letters, reminders of deadline).
There is no communication on the substance of the annual reports. Could
you please confirm whether or not you would like to receive such
administrative correspondence (that contains no information on the
substance). 

 

Best regards,

 

C4 SECRETARIAT

[1]cid:image001.png@01D45BF2.21AFCE50
European Commission
Secretary – Information, Communication, Media – State Aid
Directorate General for Competition – Unit C-4
Madou Building 26/026
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
DISCLAIMER

"The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission."

 

 

 

 

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Dear COMP-C4,

Yes I would like to receive the correspondence concerning the annual reports.

Yours sincerely,

Jesse Pinster

COMP-C4@ec.europa.eu, Competition

13 Attachments

Dear Mr Pinster,

 

Further to your email of 3 January 2022, please see attached the
correspondence concerning the annual reports in cases SA.31722 and
SA.46615.

Please note that we have redacted personal information from the
correspondence (such as names, email addresses and phone numbers).

 

Best regards,

 

COMP C4
European Commission
Secretariat – Information, Communication, Media – State Aid
Directorate General for Competition – Unit C-4
Madou Building 26/26
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
[1][email address]

 

 

 

 

 

References

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1. mailto:[email address]