In 2009, the Diário and the Garajau put a complaint to the Portuguese Competition Authority regarding the Jornal da Madeira with three main points: that the huge amounts of state aid channeled to the Jornal are a form of discrimination; that the Jornal practices dumping prices for advertising; that the fake cover price is a measure to get round the law to receive municipal publicity that is vetoed to freebie newspapers.
On the first point, the Competition Authority argued that according to EU Treaties, the European Commission was exclusively responsible for determining what constitutes state aid. The Commissioner’s Office stated that for the Commission to pursue the case the plaintiffs had to prove that the state aid affected trade between EU Member States, however, it also replied to the Garajau saying that this not being the case, it is up to the national authorities to deliberate on the matter by applying national laws. This information was remitted to the Competition Authority who stuck by their original decision refusing to apply the law.
In the Spring of 2010, the Competition Authorities contacted the regional newspapers to gather information on advertising prices and numbers, to further pursue the allegations of price-dumping. Nothing more was heard on the matter until the Competition Authority was called to testify before the Portuguese Parliament’s Commission on Ethics, Culture and Society at the end of the year. Asked what the findings of this initiative were, the President answered that they had not bothered to conclude the study because it all came back to the first issue: the question of state aid.
Again, at the same hearing, the CDS MP José Manuel Rodrigues remembered, a little late in the day, to raise the question of the Jornal’s fake cover price. The Commission’s Chairperson quickly stepped in stating that they were now on their closing statements and that the Authority’s President therefore need not answer the question - which he did not…
Well done! Keep on!
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