A 2014 European guideline that allows companies "in crisis" to be rescued, the lifesaver? of Abengoa

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Abengoa can be saved with a

, at least on paper.

The Sevillian multinational that is on the verge of bankruptcy after SEPI denied it a loan of 249 million euros could avoid the very harsh European legislation on direct state aid to companies, precisely because of the nature and dimensions of its crisis and the impact that its disappearance would produce in employment in a region such as Andalusia, with a rate of unemployment higher than the national average and much higher than the European average.

A directive from the

could become the lifeline through which both the central government and the Andalusian Government could inject public resources into the battered company that was once an Andalusian and Spanish industrial benchmark in terms of innovation and energy renewable.

The acting Councilor for Economic Transformation of the Board, Rogelio Velasco, alluded after the meeting held on Monday between the two administrations, the state and regional ones, with representatives of Abengoa to a "channel" through which, this time, the Junta de Andalucía would have found the formula to participate in a possible rescue of the engineering company after last year it did not find

to grant the 20 million that the company asked for as part of another rescue plan that resulted equally unsuccessful.

This "channel" is none other than

on state aid for the rescue and restructuring of non-financial companies in crisis that the European Commission published in July 2014 and which includes a series of exceptions to the general prohibition of directly rescuing companies by the member states, subject, yes, to a series of requirements that are not easy to meet either.

But, a priori, Abengoa could comply with them and that is why the Andalusian Government has now opened the door to get involved in saving the company, although always playing a secondary role compared to that of the central Government, which is the one that, according to of the Board, has the powers and must assume the leading role.

Abengoa meets the

of the European Commission, to begin with, because it is a company "in crisis" as defined by the guideline for this situation.

Brussels says that "a company will be considered in crisis if, without intervention by the State, its economic disappearance would be almost certain in the short or medium term. And, more specifically, "when the company is immersed in bankruptcy proceedings or insolvency that meets the criteria established in its national law to be subject to bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings at the request of its creditors".

It must be remembered that the company's parent company, Abengoa SA, is not only in

, but the commercial judge ordered its liquidation, although it is not yet final and the appeal is pending.

In addition, 27 of its subsidiaries, in which most of the business and the workforce is concentrated, last week requested creditors' pre-bankruptcy due to the refusal of the State Industrial Participation Company to include Abengoa among the beneficiaries of the covid fund for companies affected by the pandemic.

The European Commission establishes that companies may only avail themselves of state aid once they have exhausted

of saving themselves by their own means and "market options" and determines that they may only receive aid such as the one allowed in this guideline once within a period of ten years and "under conditions that mitigate its possible harmful effects and promote efficiency in public spending".

This European standard contemplates

different types of aid: rescue aid, "urgent and transitory" and whose purpose is to allow the company to remain active for the time necessary to draw up a restructuring or liquidation plan, and restructuring aid. , more durable and based on a long-term viability plan.

This last option could be the most suitable for the rescue that the administrations are studying for Abengoa.

However, any rescue plan that could be designed for Abengoa and even the company's ordinary operations are now up in the air after the Tax Agency and Social Security maintain the company's

for the debts it has and after the pre-bankruptcy of creditors was declared.

The embargo, which became effective on the same Monday in which the company and the administrations met, puts the company's ordinary activity in serious trouble and even the

and was the subject of a complaint at the meeting, in which the representatives of the company threw it in the face of the Minister of Industry and asked her to take action on the matter.

New meeting on Monday

Precisely, the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, announced on Friday that the monitoring commission will meet again this Monday, a week after the first meeting held at the Palacio de Congresos in Seville and which resulted in the "firm commitment" of administrations to try to save the multinational, above all because of the employment it generates.

Maroto, in statements to TVE collected by Europa Press, recalled that the Government approved

of Abengoa in 2019 and 2020 and that it was the Andalusian Government that did not want to help the company in 2020.

"I hope that all the administrations are up to the task", said the minister, who affirmed that the Government has done "its homework these days", analyzing the situation of the company well and defining the area in which to move, although sources of The Board assures that neither the

that was announced has met this week

nor has the company presented its viability plan, as promised.

In addition, the Government has not previously informed the regional Administration of the meeting next Monday.

Maroto reiterated that "clearly" Abengoa must save "what has value", for which he once again requested the involvement of all administrations.

"I hope that on Monday we continue working and putting

on the table. The Government was, is and will always defend Abengoa's industrial capabilities and employment," he added.

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