EC Approves Portugal's Investment Aid to Navigator's Tissue Mill in Cacia

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The European Commission has found Portugal's investment aid of €12 million to Navigator Tissue Cacia to be in line with EU State aid rules. 

The aid will support the Navigator Group's plans to invest about €114 million in the production of tissue paper in Cacia (Aveiro). The project is expected to create at least 133 direct jobs. Cacia is located in the Centro region of Portugal, an area eligible for regional aid under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Commission assessed the aid measure under the Guidelines on Regional State Aid for 2014-2020, which enable Member States to support economic development and employment in EU's less developed regions and to foster regional cohesion in the Single Market.

The Commission found that without the public funding, the project would not have been carried out in Portugal or any other EU country, as it would not have been economically viable.

Furthermore, the aid is limited to the minimum necessary to render the project sufficiently profitable for the company to carry out the investment. Finally, the investment aid will contribute to job creation as well as to the economic development of the region. On this basis, the Commission concluded that the positive effects of the project on regional development outweigh any potential distortion of competition brought about by the State aid. 

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