The European Commission has approved the €1.56 billion compensation for Poste Italiane from theItalian government granted for its loss-making public services provided during the time period
2009-2011.The case concerns compensations for two public services worth €1.1 billion for the universalpostal service and €458 million for reduced postal tariffs offered to publishers, non-profitorganisations and electoral candidates, respectively.
“The measures were in line with EU rules on public service compensation since, in particular,they did not over-compensate Poste Italiane for providing these services, and therefore did notlead to cross-subsidisation of commercial activities,” the European Commission stated.
Poste Italiane is one of the world’s most profitable postal operators, although its profitsdeclined last year. The Italian postal group had an operating profit of €1.64 billion, down 12%,while group revenues dropped 4.6% to €21.7 billion. The core Postal Service revenues dropped 5% to€4.8 billion last year and the company made a loss on its Universal Service provision, with thesubstantial costs only partly compensated for by the government.
Back in June this year, Italy informed the European Commission about the €1.1 billion granted toPoste Italiane. The Italian authorities also informed the Commission of €458 millioncompensations.
In response, the EU countered that the two measures had been disclosed only after their grantingand therefore represented illegal state aid according to the EU rules. After examining them underits Framework on services of general economic interest (SGEI), however, it concluded that thecompensations were compatible with the set of provisions that apply to illegal state aid grantedbefore its implementation.
As the Italian state postal operator, Poste Italiane has more than 146,000 staff and about14,000 post offices. Besides providing core postal services, it offers integrated products, as wellas communication, logistic and financial services all over Italy.
