Tag: State aid

The French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg has launched a broadside at the European Commission, arguing that Chinese and the US industries "don't have Brussels on their backs" when accepting state aid. A group of seven countries, including France and Germany, have sent a letter urging the EU Executive to "switch gear" on industrial policy.

Some €425 million in Greek government subsidies to farmers were incompatible with EU law and will have to be returned, a European Commission spokesman said yesterday (5 January).

European regions and cities will no longer face EU state aid scrutiny when subsidising small-scale public services such as swimming pools and crèches, according to new rules being drawn up in Brussels.

State aid for broadband in 2010 was more than four times the amount in 2009 and comprised a record total of €1.8 billion in public funds. But scepticism remains as to whether EU funds will inject competition into the high-speed Internet market.

The European Commission has cleared Spain's controversial state aid plan to support its domestic coal sector over the next four years, despite warnings that it will scupper the EU's green energy goals.

The European Commission will decide next week whether to authorise Spain's subsidies for its coal sector, amid warnings that giving the green light would scupper the EU's plans to phase out subsidies to unprofitable coal mines.

Declining reliance on emergency funding from governments signals a gradual return to normal market conditions in the banking sector, according to the European Commission's latest state aid scoreboard.

The European Commission yesterday (27 April) proposed a number of measures to address the ash cloud crisis, including temporary derogations for night flights and deferral of charge payments for airlines. Brussels gave its green light to state aid for the air sector, whose crisis bill is estimated to cost between €1.5 and 2.5 billion.

CEOs of European multinational companies believe the economic crisis has compromised EU state aid policy and are urging Brussels to restore open markets, in a newly published review of competition law.

Ireland's plans to establish a new agency to buy up bad loans from Irish banks are in limbo while the EU considers whether the scheme breaks state aid rules.

Pre-empting possible action from the EU's competition watchdog, American car giant General Motors has abandoned the sale of its beleaguered German arm Opel to a Canadian-Russian bidder, a deal which was marred in suspicion and resentment.

The Polish government won the approval of the European Commission yesterday (22 July) to allocate 251 million euros of state aid to Gdańsk shipyard, seen as a symbol of the fight against Communism.

Public service broadcasters are lobbying the European Commission to give more weight to the views of media experts in its review of the 2001 Broadcast Communication, rather than viewing it solely as a competition issue.

The European Commission is coming under intense pressure from member states to soften its stance on state aid to public service TV channels ahead of the publication of an updated communication on state-funded broadcasting.

"The EU has to restructure its failed strategy [in Gaza] and seek to bring the new US administration to a similar re-appraisal and policy change," argue Michael Emerson and Richard Youngs, associate senior research fellows at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), and Natalie Tocci, senior research fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, in a January CEPS report.

The European Commission has approved a takeover of Alitalia by a consortium of Italian private investors, freeing them from having to repay some 300m euro of state aid awarded by the Italian government to the ailing air carrier. 

Almost a month of protests culminated yesterday (21 August), when Bulgarian milk producers set up roadblocks in retaliation for the loss of millions of euros of EU subsidies following last month's decision by the European Commission to punish Sofia for its failure to fight corruption and organised crime.

Unless Brussels turns a blind eye on Polish state aid to three shipyards, Poland will not ratify the Lisbon Treaty. This is according to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, which says a deal between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Polish colleague Lech Kaczynski may have been struck backstage at the Paris summit on 13 July.

The Commission yesterday (7 July) proposed an overhaul of the bloc's VAT and state aid policies to allow governments to reduce VAT rates for labour-intensive businesses and provide small business with more aid for risk capital and innovation.

The European Commission said yesterday (24 April) that it would be looking into an Italian government loan to its failing national airline, causing early tension with the incoming Berlusconi government.

Germany will lose its 'golden shares' in car manufacturer Volkswagen, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice which says that the 1960 'VW-Gesetz' contradicts EU rules on the free movement of capital.

The Commission has adopted a Regulation doubling the level of government subsidies that small businesses may receive without breaking EU rules on state aid.

The Commission has proposed increasing the level of government subsidies that small businesses can receive without breaking rules on state aid.

In its latest State Aid Scoreboard, the Commission commends Bulgaria and Romania for their "good progress" in establishing credible state aid enforcement records.