The European Commission said it fears that an Italian plan to support the car industry could break EU rules, officials in Brussels said, just days after they raised similar concerns over French and Spanish schemes to protect their auto makers as well. “As far as the Italian measures are concerned, we do have some concerns,” Commission competition spokesman Jonathan Todd told journalists in Brussels. The Commission “will be writing to the Italian authorities today, and we will ask them for detailed information on this system, to be provided within five working days,” he said on February 20.

The Commission has seen reports that the plan, approved in Italy on February 10, includes clauses which would only provide state aid to companies producing cars, motorbikes and household appliances if they sign a deal with the government first, Todd said. “This could be discriminatory if (the aid) is not available to produce from companies which have not signed the protocol ... There might (also) be a problem in terms of the (EU) rules on the free movement of goods,” Todd said.

The Commission’s call for more details from Italy came two days after the Brussels- based body gave Spain until February 24 to give it more information on a plan valued at 4.1 billion Euro (USD 5.2 billion) to rescue the car industry there, and three days after France provided the Commission with details of its 7.8 billion Euro plan to save its car industry. Todd said that commission experts were analysing the French plan.

Paris sent the details of its support plan hours before the Commission’s deadline expired on midnight February 18, and the EU’s administration is now “studying this carefully,” a Commission spokesman said. The Commission, which is charged with overseeing the EU’s strict rules on fair competition, is concerned that measures in the two plans might give local producers an unfair advantage. Officials have also expressed concern over a clause in the French plans which calls on aid recipients not to close factories in France as long as the support scheme lasts - a demand which runs counter to the EU’s rules on the free movement of businesses.