The EU Commission was reported to have initiated an investigation into German aid to the glass company Technische Glaswerke Ilmenau (TGI) in Thuringia, Germany. The European executive doubts in particular that the company was in difficulties at the time of the aid. The German authorities were given a month to supply the Commission with information requested regarding this un-notified aid granted in the form of loans and a release from the obligation to pay back a debt. TGI makes technical glassware for domestic and scientific use. It was created in 1994 for the purchase of 12 production lines of the former East German firm of Ilmenauer Glaswerke, liquidated by the Treuhandanstalt. At the time TGI received DM 68m in aid for restructuring and compensation for losses, as well as three loans for a total of DM 17m from Kreditastalt fur Wiederaufbau.
