EC: We’ll check Nissan pledge meets rules on state aid

THE European Commission is probing Goverment assurances to Nissan which persuaded the company to renew its investment in the Sunderland plant.

Nissan said last month it would build the next generation of the Qashqai in Sunderland as well as the next X-Trail – following a meeting between Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn and Prime Minister Theresa May.

A Commission spokesman said: ‘We have seen press reports regarding this issue. As a result, the Commission at services level is in contact with the UK authorities. Such exchanges of information are common. In this specific case, the UK authorities have not notified any support to Nissan for assessment under EU state aid rules. We have not taken any formal views on the matter.’

A spokesperson for the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: ‘We are in regular contact with the European Commission on a range of issues. As the European Commission themselves have said, exchanges like these are common.’

Nissan had publicly fretted over whether the UK’s departure from the European Union would see it hit with tariffs both on its car exports and supply chain. Almost twothirds of cars produced in the UK are exported to the rest of the EU and the industry’s supply chain is strung out across the Continent.

The Government has denied that it offered to pick up the cost of any eventual tariffs – with Business secretary Greg Clark saying that Nissan was merely assured that the Government’s objective ‘would be to ensure continued access to the markets in Europe and vice versa’.

The EC’s competition authorities have wide-ranging powers to stop governments subsidising companies or industries.