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

18. Februar 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Failure to Satisfy Ex Post the Altmark Criteria, but Compliance with the 2014 Aviation Guidelines

State Aid Blogs - StateAidHub blogpost2 2019 lexxion stateaid airports

Public service obligations must be entrusted by an official act and defined with sufficient precision. Imprecise definition of public service obligations makes it impossible to identify the costs which are caused by such obligations. Consequently, imprecise definition of public service obligations makes it impossible to grant compensation because subsidisation of non-eligible costs cannot be excluded. Compensation may not be granted […]

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16. Februar 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Richard Craven

State aid to football clubs in Croatia?

football clubs in Croatia

GNK Dinamo Zagreb: Will the next act of the sports and State aid saga play out in the EU’s newest capital? The spectre of EU State aid law has loomed over professional club football in Europe since the Commission’s initiation, in 2013, of in-depth investigations into five football clubs in the Netherlands (SA.33584) and seven clubs in Spain […]

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13. Februar 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Lexxion Publisher

In brief: C-37/14 Commission v France

fruit and vegetables

On Thursday 12th February the CJEU passed down its ruling in C-37/14, finding that France did not take all necessary measures to recover aid illegally granted to the fruit and vegetable sector and thereby failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 288(4) TFEU. The full ruling is available here and the press release can be accessed here. The aid in question concerned ‘contingency plans’ […]

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10. Februar 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary and an invitation to get in touch!

gavel on a laptop

A quick look at the month ahead in the GC/CJEU and reminder about how to get in touch with your news, views and information on how to write a post: Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.de Court’s Diary As we look to the month ahead, there are several State aid cases trickling through the EU Courts to watch out for. Here’s an update from the […]

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9. Februar 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Restructuring and the Market Economy Investor Principle

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Different interventions that aim to finance the same restructuring plan constitute a single measure. A private investor may consider a possible damage of its reputation from laying off workers but the damage has to be quantified. Finance support of employees provides an indirect benefit to the employer. Introduction In this article I review two similar cases: a judgment of […]

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3. Februar 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

i) Environmental Harm Does Not Make State Aid Incompatible with the Internal Market ii) the Market Economy Investor Principle Applied to Monopolies

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Security of energy supply can be a service of general economic interest. Avoiding harm to the environment is not one of the principles that underpin the internal market and which may not be violated by State aid measures. Determining whether competition is distorted does not require definition of the relevant markets. This article examines two apparently different but in […]

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27. Januar 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Erika Szyszczak

Black Cabs in London Retain ‘Exclusive’ Rights to Drive in Bus Lanes

black cab

A detailed note on Case C-518/13 The Queen, on the application of Eventech Ltd v The Parking Adjudicator (judgment of 14th January 2015) An enduring feature of EU law is that it may be used in an opportunist manner in some of the lowest tribunals in the EU to create challenges to national rules and policies. This was how the Eventech case arose. […]

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26. Januar 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Non-Commercial Public Infrastructure: Another Judgment, More Questions

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Public infrastructure which is not exploited for commercial purposes does not result in an advantage for its users. Undertakings which are subject to different regulatory requirements can be treated differently. Cross-border trade can be affected even when there is no direct provision of cross-border services. Introduction The Leipzig-Halle judgment of 2011 was a shock to public funding of infrastructure […]

3 Kommentare

22. Januar 2015 | Guest State Aid Blog von Dimitrios Kyriazis

Luxembourg, Amazon, and the State aid connection

amazon package

The Commission’s opening decision: What should we make of Amazon’s ‘advance pricing agreement’ (APA) and its alleged (non-) compliance with the ‘arm’s length principle’ (ALP)? In early October 2014, the European Commission notified Luxembourg of its decision to open a state aid investigation in relation to the tax treatment of the Amazon group by the Luxembourgish tax authorities. This opening […]

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19. Januar 2015 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Use of Publicly-Funded Infrastructure without State Aid

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Public funding of infrastructure which is open to any user does not constitute State aid. Public funding for the upgrading/extension of infrastructure in view of expected increase in the number of users is not State aid as long as it is not designed for the specific needs of certain users.Fees charged to users of publicly-funded infrastructure must cover incremental costs […]

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20. Mai 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Restrictions on Sale of Land and Social Housing

hands holding house model

Introduction This posting reviews the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in two joined cases: Eric Libert, et al v Gouvernement Flamand, (C‑197/11) and All Projects & Developments NV and Others v Vlaamse Regering, (C‑203/11).[1] The judgment which was rendered on 8 May 2013 is important because it addresses several issues concerning public service obligations, their relationship with […]

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9. Mai 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Taxes and Tax Reductions on Air Travel: Selectivity and Compatibility

airplanes on the runway

This posting examines an Irish and a German measure concerning reduction in passenger taxes. As to be expected, an important issue for both measures was whether the reduction was selective or not. The analysis of the Commission does not really break new ground. What is more instructive with these two cases is the range and ingenuity of the arguments advanced […]

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1. Mai 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Fiscal Leveraging: Donations and State Aid for Culture and Sports

runners on the track

Introduction In this blog I examine primarily a Dutch measure that supports cultural institutions by providing tax incentives to individuals and corporations to make donations to those institutions. This is an unusual construction because the direct beneficiaries are different from the indirect beneficiaries which, however, are the main targets of the measure. This construction has been used rather extensively in […]

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21. April 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Ex Post Evaluation of State Aid: A New Instrument

evaluation smileys

Introduction: The need for evaluation The State Aid Modernisation that was launched by the European Commission in May 2012 aims primarily to channel State aid to remedying genuine market failure. Subsequent policy documents have all been based on this underlying aim: to ensure that State aid is truly needed and effective in addressing market failure. The need and effectiveness of […]

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12. April 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Objectively Justified Pricing: The Market Economy Operator Principle

office table

Introduction: Objective justification of price differentiation In a landmark judgment 25 years ago [February 1988], the Court of Justice established that business behaviour that appears to deviate from normal market practices can still conform with the market economy operator principle [MEOP] which is a variation of the better known market economy investor principle [MEIP]. Both principles are based on the […]

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7. April 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Sale of State-owned Airlines [Commission Decision SA.33337 on sale of subsidiaries by LOT Polish Airlines]

airplane on the runway

Introduction In the previous posting I examined the funding of a regional airport. In this posting I look at a case concerning an airline; more specifically, the sale of three subsidiaries of Polish airline LOT.[1] During the past five or so years, the Commission has had to deal with many measures involving different kinds of public support to airlines [e.g. Alitalia, […]

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30. März 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Airport Operators and Budget Airlines [Commission Decision SA.23324: Finavia, Airpro and Ryanair at Tampere-Pirkkala Airport

people on the airport

During the past 18 months or so, the European Commission has launched more than 20 investigations in the funding of regional airports and the arrangements that these airports have concluded with budget airlines such as Ryanair. This posting analyses a very recent Commission decision which found that no State aid was granted to either the airport operator or Ryanair. This […]

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25. März 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Where is the Money? The Link between Advantage and Transfer of State Resources

100 euro detail

On 19 March 2013, the Court of Justice delivered an important judgment in case C-399/10 P, Bouygues v European Commission concerning aid that was granted by France to France Telecom. The case was an appeal to an earlier ruling of the General Court in case T 425/04 France and Others v Commission which annulled Article 1 of Commission Decision 2006/621 […]

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16. März 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

Loans, Guarantees and Credit Worthiness

contract signing

This post examines the two latest judgments of EU courts on State aid. They do not introduce any novel approaches to the interpretation of Article 107(1) TFEU but they confirm and clarify the obligations of the State in its dealings with undertakings. T-387/11, Nitrogenmuvek Vegyipari v European Commission On 27 February 2013, the General Court rendered its judgment in […]

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8. März 2013 | State Aid Uncovered von Phedon Nicolaides

An “Alternative” Method of Valuation for State-Aid-Free Sale of Public Land

construction site

The obligation of the state to act as a private vendor When a public authority sells an asset to an undertaking, it must sell it at market price. The case law is clear on this point, especially with respect to the sale of public land or a building. Such a sale may constitute state aid “where it is not […]

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