Europäisches Beihilfenrecht Blog

State Aid Uncovered Blog

In Lexxions Blog „State Aid Uncovered” veröffentlicht Prof. Phedon Nicolaides wöchentlich kritische Analysen zu den neuesten Urteilen und Entscheidungen zu staatlichen Beihilfen. Jeder Beitrag stellt die wichtigsten Punkte eines Gerichtsurteils oder einer EU-Kommissionsentscheidung vor, ordnet sie in den Kontext ähnlicher Rechtsprechung oder Praxis ein, bewertet die zugrundeliegende Argumentation und zeigt etwaige Ungereimtheiten oder Widersprüche auf.

In loser Folge werden auf diesem Blog auch Gastbeiträge von anderen Experten für staatliche Beihilfen veröffentlicht, welche die Inhalte der Blogbeiträge ergänzen.

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Professor at Maastricht University; Professor at University of Nicosia, and Academic Director at Lexxion Training

5. November 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary – November 2015

gavel

Find below the court’s diary for all State aid cases. Would you like to write a comment on one of them? Please don’t hesitate and get in touch with us ([email protected]), we are happy to publish your comment on the blog. Wednesday 11/11/2015 Judgment in Case C-505/14 – Klausner Holz Niedersachsen (Court of Justice – Second Chamber) Thursday 12/11/2015 Judgment in […]

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4. November 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Economic Continuity and Recovery of Incompatible State Aid

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Incompatible State aid must be recovered from “successor” companies which acquire previously aided companies and enable the latter to continue their operations without any change. Introduction In this article I review two decisions in which the Commission determined that incompatible aid had to be recovered from “successor” companies. Those were companies which had obtained the assets of the […]

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27. Oktober 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

The Perennial Altmark Questions

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A SGEI provider does not have to be efficient by industry standards in order to receive compensation for its next extra costs. Although the conditions for compatibility of public service compensation under Article 106(2) TFEU appear to be similar to the Altmark criteria, they have very different objectives. Introduction Even since the Altmark judgment of July 2003, public authorities […]

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22. Oktober 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Emanuela Matei

A new misnomer in State aid law: single economic unit with separate legal personality (C 357/14 P, Dunamenti Erőmű/Commission)

electricity grid cables

The following blog post is a contributory piece by Emanuela Matei, Associate Researcher at the Centre of European Legal Studies, Bucharest. Matei holds a Juris Master in European Business Law (Lund University, June 2012), a Magister legum (Lund University, June 2010) and a BSc in Economics & Business Administration (Lund University, June 2009). We are very glad to welcome her […]

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20. Oktober 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Should State Aid that Is Passed on to Consumers Not be Recovered?

State Aid Blogs - 10.10. Stateaid deminimis calculator

Should the amount of recoverable aid be similarly reduced by the amount that is allegedly passed on to consumers? I will argue the case against it. Introduction On 5 February 2015, the General Court, in cases T-473/12, Aer Lingus v Commission[1] and T-500/12, Ryanair v Commission[2], annulled Article 4 of Commission Decision 2013/199. In that decision the Commission found that a […]

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13. Oktober 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

A Primer on Compensation for the Extra Costs of Public Service Obligations Taking into Account Efficiency Gains

State Aid Blogs - StateAidHub blogpost38 saleofbank

When Member States impose PSOs they are never allowed to grant even a single euro in excess of the net extra costs of the PSO. That is prohibited for the simple reason that it results in over-compensation. Introduction The Lexxion seminar on state aid for transport and transport infrastructure that took place in Brussels on 21-22 September (view […]

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12. Oktober 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Lexxion Publisher

Courts’s Diary – October 2015

gavel

Any comments on #Stateaid? Get in touch: Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.eu Thursday 01/10/2015 Judgment in Case C-357/14 P – Electrabel and Dunamenti Erőmű v Commission (Court of Justice – Third Chamber) Tuesday 06/10/2015 Judgment in Case C-303/13 P – Andersen v Commission (Court of Justice – Grand Chamber) Thursday 08/10/2015 Hearing in Joined Cases T-479/11 & T-157/12 – France v Commission, […]

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5. Oktober 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

The State Acting as a Private Creditor & State Aid Enforcement and Procedural Rights

State Aid Blogs - StateAidHub blogpost14 StateAid Lexxion Money Eu Commission Bank Financial

In this article I review Commission decision SA.37100 on JSC Liepajas Metalurgs [LM], once Latvia’s largest steel company and major employer. The decision examines whether Latvia acted promptly to recover a debt owed to it by a company that faced financial difficulties. The question was whether Latvia acted as a private creditor when it allowed the debtor to continue operations. […]

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29. September 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Airport Infrastructure, Public Remit and the MEOT

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A public authority, acting as a private investor, may provide finance which is free of state aid to an airport and at the same time grant state aid to the same airport. Public funding of activities that fall within the exclusive tasks of the state is not state aid. When a public authority defines the activities that fall within the […]

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25. September 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

New State Aid Regulations

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Regulation 2015/1589 is the new procedural regulation. It lays down the rules for, among other things, notification of state aid, formal investigation, injunctions and recovery of incompatible aid. Because of its importance in the EU system of state aid control, it will be fully reviewed at a forthcoming article. In the Official Journal of 24 September 2015 you will find […]

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21. Januar 2014 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

The Possibly Conflicting Roles of EU Institutions on State Aid

EU flag

Introduction On 10 December 2013, the Court of Justice, in C‑272/12 P, wrote another chapter in the long-running case of the exemption from excise taxes for alumina producers in France, Ireland and Italy. This is not the last chapter. The Court annulled a judgment of the General Court and referred the case back to the General Court. In fact this […]

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10. Januar 2014 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

The Non-Equivalence of the Various Methods of Supporting Green Electricity

electrical sockets

Introduction Ever since the judgment of the Court of Justice in 2001 on PreussenElektra [case C-379/98], Member States have been grappling with the question of how to support electricity from renewable resources [green electricity] without granting State aid. In PreussenElektra the Court found that there was no transfer of state resources and no State aid, because the German government imposed […]

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2. Januar 2014 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

The New Rules on De minimis Aid for 2014-2020: Regulation 1407/2013

EU comission

Introduction[1] It is appropriate to start this year’s articles on State aid with an appraisal of one of the most important new legislative items for the period 2014-2020: the new de minimis rules. The European Commission adopted the new de minimis Regulation in mid-December and the formal text was published just before Christmas in the Official Journal of 24 December […]

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20. Dezember 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Economically Rational Environmental Aid

water processing plant

Introduction A few months ago I wrote an article on this blog explaining the big puzzle of environmental State aid. Since the rules allow State aid which is only a proportion of the extra costs incurred by companies investing in environmentally friendly technology, it is puzzling why they make this investment. After all, they have the option of not incurring […]

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12. Dezember 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Why Can the Commission Not be Consistent in its Analysis of Economic Activity and Affectation of Trade?

antique monument

Introduction If you ask a national official who deals with State aid to identify the most challenging aspects of working with State aid rules, the answer is likely to be “the concept of undertaking” and the “effect on trade”. Other aspects can also be challenging, but a national official is unlikely to agonise about the transfer of state resources, the […]

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6. Dezember 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Non-notified State Aid and the Role of National Courts C 284/12, Deutsche Lufthansa v Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn

airplane on the runway

Introduction What prevents a Member State from granting State aid without first notifying it to the European Commission? Cynics would answer “nothing, in fact”. Indeed, nothing can stop a country that is determined to provide a subsidy. But after the judgment in case Lufthansa v Frankfurt Hahn Airport, the answer must be “unnecessary hassle”. Even if there is a slight […]

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29. November 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

The Private Investor Principle Applied to Loans [Commission Decision 2013/528]

ship in the shipyard

Introduction The State aid issue in this case is relatively straightforward. Nauta, a Polish shipyard, received a two-year loan from IDA, the state-owned Polish Investment Agency. Because Nauta ran into some financial trouble, the loan was extended for another two years. In Decision 2013/528, the Commission had to examine two questions: First, did the initial loan market conform? Second, if […]

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22. November 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

How Not to Determine the Effect on Trade [Infrastructure for Tourism, Czech Republic (SA.35909)]

Prague panorama

Introduction Normally the articles in this blog identify landmark court rulings and seminal decisions of the Commission which set important precedents and provide useful guidance to State aid professionals and practitioners. This article deviates from this custom. It examines a recent case where the Commission concluded that public subsidies did not constitute State aid because intra-EU trade was not affected. […]

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15. November 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Private Vendor Principle: How to Organise a State-Aid-Free Sale of Public Assets

bank building

Introduction The private investor principle (PIP) or market economy investor principle is well established in the case law. A closely related concept is the private vendor principle (PVP). The PIP applies when a public authority assumes risk by investing in an undertaking, for example through the purchase of shares, injection of capital, granting of a loan or provision of […]

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8. November 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Tax Hypothecation and Economic Efficiency under Altmark: T-275/11, French Television 1 v Commission

television

Background France Télévisions is a limited company wholly owned by the French State. As France abolished advertising on public television, it also decided to provide financial compensation to France Télévisions. For this reason it introduced new taxes to generate revenue for the compensation: a tax on advertising and a tax on electronic communications. In January 2009, France notified to the […]

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