The French Minister of Economy and Finance announced Sunday his intention to file a complaint with the European Commission about the public aid that benefits the low-cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle, which is in great financial trouble.
As a guest of the “Grand Jury” programme of RTL-LCI-Le Figaro, Bruno Le Maire estimated that the insolvency of French airline XL Airways, in particular, was explained “in part” by the competition of Norwegian, the third-largest European low-cost airline behind Ryanair and EasyJet. The stiff competition has upset the market with reduced transatlantic rates, at the cost of high debt for all airlines involved.
“It breaks prices, it is in debt, but it has Norwegian public support, and that I cannot accept,” said Le Maire. “The competition rules must be the same for everyone,” he said. “We cannot accept it in Europe, we cannot accept it either from Norway. Hence, I will write to the European Commission next week to tell them, ‘Put it right,’” said the minister.
Norway is not part of the European Union, but accepts most of its legislative texts.
Source: Le Figaro and Reuters
Norway is part of the European Economic Area and is subject to the same EU rules pertaining to state aid. Norway tends to be more diligent in fulfilling EU requirements than any EU member state and it is very unlikely that it has transgressed in this case.
This is fake news. Norwegian does not get any support form the norwegian goverment. This is the short game. Norwegian will rise big time .
hold kjæft og dø drit fransk. Norwegian er beste