Article 2
This Decision is addressed to the Federal Republic of Germany. Done at Brussels, 30 October 2002. For the Commission Mario Monti Member of the Commission (1) OJ C 394, 30.12.1997, p. 14. (2) See footnote 1. (3) OJ C 214, 7.8.1993. (4) Elf is currently part of Total Fina Elf SA. (5) Engineering, planning and construction. (6) The Memorandum of Understanding and the corresponding put-option were the subject of the Commission Decision of 2 February 2000 on the so-called "Settlement Agreement" (N 94/98) between the BvS, the Land of Saxony-Anhalt and Elf/Mider. It is described in section VII of this Decision. (7) In its decision to initiate proceedings, the Commission specified an amount of EUR 460,2 million (DEM 900 million), but it did not take into account adjustments made by Solomon totalling DEM 235 million which reduced the gap. (8) In its decision to initiate proceedings, the Commission also requested information on the put-option contract, which was to be examined at a subsequent stage. (9) The actual overall building costs amounted to EUR 2607,6 million (DEM 5100 million), including the interest costs. (10) In November 1998, Solomon issued a second revision of the report commissioned by the BvS. In this study, it revised its estimate upwards, and the difference between Solomon and TLT was now EUR 181,5 million (DEM 355 million) instead of the previous EUR 340,1 million (DEM 665 million). (11) It was established that independent auditors had verified the financial and cost accounting data. Their reports and statements were made available. For instance, the Commission had access to statements on the actual cost value which has been certified by KPMG. (12) OJ L 73, 12.3.1998, p. 38. (13) Mitteldeutsche Erdöl-Raffinerie v Commission [2001] ECR II-3367. (14) Elf/Mider stated that this percentage has been reduced to between 22 % and 24,3 % due to changes in the financial and physical design of the project. (15) This calculation is based on the difference between 35 % of DEM 4700 million (DEM 1645 million) and the amount actually granted (DEM 1265,5 million). The difference between these two amounts (DEM 379,5 million) is the aid that could theoretically still be paid out in compliance with the aid intensity of 35 %. It corresponds to an eligible investment base of DEM 1084,3 million. (16) Plus the corresponding interest.