BRUSSELS, 10/12/05 - Governments of many EU member still extend substantial state aid to troubled companies or sectors. The Netherlands is not among these, show figures released by European Commissioner Neelie Kroes (comeptition policy) Friday.

The Dutch commissioner's data show that between 2000 and 2004, aid to companies in the 25 EU member countries remained stable at 0.48 percent of the size of the total EU economy. This does not include the agriculture and transport sector.

Last year, the 25 member states provided a total of 62 billion euros in aid to companies and sectors. According to the spokesman for Kroes, there are signs of a "shifting tendency towards full sectors and a bit less to specific companies." Thus, in many member states, investments in environmental technology can count on increasing covert state aid via tax breaks.

The Netherlands is the member state that spends the least money on aid to industry after Latvia, Lithuania and Luxemburg. Last year, only 0.18 percent of Dutch Gross National Product (GNP) went to troubled companies. This figure also does not include the railways, agriculture and transport companies.

New member state Malta spends the most, at 2.71 percent of GNP. State support is still particularly strongly entrenched in the 10 member states that joined the EU last year. In the 15 old member states, 0.43 percent of GNP went to industry via direct or indirect support, compared with 0.7 percent for the 10 new member states.