CNN: EU Says Italian Government Must Recover Alcoa Electricity Subsidies

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The European Commission Thursday barred Italian electricity subsidies for aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. (AA) and ordered the Italian government to recover aid already given to the company. Italy has given Alcoa preferential electricity rates for its smelters in Sardinia and Veneto between 2006 and 2010. The commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, said this aid was given solely to reduce Alcoa's operating costs and had no other justification. Under EU rules, state aid for companies is usually prohibited, unless a company is helping boost employment in an impoverished region. "Price subsidies that result in artificially low energy prices for selected companies waste taxpayers' money and distort competition," the commission's chief antitrust official, Neelie Kroes, said in a statement.