The European Commission has approved state aid of €146.27 million for Voestalpine Stahl to clean up a site in Austria contaminated during World War Two.

The Commission said in a statement the funding support met EU rules on financial support for environmental protection.

"The EU generally welcomes aid for the remediation of contaminated sites as an important contribution to environmental protection, provided it is in line with our state aid rules," the EC's competition chief Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.

The clean-up is intended to remove several types of hydrocarbons which leaked into the ground and posed a risk to ground water, mostly as a result of air raids during World War Two and during subsequent demolition work.