European Commission to investigate Serbian subsidies to Fiat

The European Commission (EC) wants to investigate whether the Serbian government's decision to subsidize the Fiat plant in Kragujevac is in line with the interim trade deal.

This is according to Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU enlargement commissioner.

He told Tanjug on Wednesday that the European Commission (EC) is studying the matter and is in contact with the Serbian authorities.

- The Commission has noted a measure which offers subsidies to a car maker so that it would be able to sell its cars at a discounted price in Serbia. We need to examine whether this measure is compatible with the interim trade agreement, in particular with the provisions on state assistance - Stano said.

Serbia's Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic recently said that the EUR 3,000 discount on the fiat 500L will be financed by Fiat and not the government.

- Fiat has committed to taking on a total of 1,400 new workers this year and next year, so they qualify for subsidies of EUR 10,000 per every job created - said Dinkic.

He added that the complaints from car importers that this arrangement discriminates against them are invalid, because the government only provided incentives for new jobs.