(LUXEMBOURG) - The European Union's top legal advisor said Tuesday that Italy had broken EU laws by granting contracts to helicopter maker Agusta without putting them up for public tender.

In an opinion to the European Court of Justice, Advocate General Jan Mazak said the government had awarded contracts to supply the aircraft to departments such as the fire brigade, forestry service and coast guard for some 30 years.

Italy has "adopted a procedure, which has been in existence for a long time and is still followed of directly awarding to the firm 'Agusta' contracts for the purchase of helicopters," he said in a statement.

Such opinions are non-binding on the Luxembourg-based tribunal but it usually enforces about 80 percent of them. No date was set for the ECJ to hand down a final ruling.

The case was brought by the European Commission, which claimed that Italy had failed to fulfil its obligations under EU rules governing the award of public contracts.

The EU's executive body said that Italy had not deemed the contracts "secret," taken for "special security measures" or in the interests of national security, which could have allowed it to go outside normal tender procedures.

The government in Rome does not contest that it directly granted the Italian helicopter maker the contracts but it denies any wrong-doing.

In his opinion, Mazak said it was clear "the helicopters in question were not intended to be used for specifically military purposes. As a result, Italy cannot rely in its defence on" any justification of national security.

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