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The Politics of Judicial Review pp 81–116Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

State Aid Control in the European Union

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Part of the book series: European Administrative Governance ((EAGOV))

Abstract

This chapter presents the general development of the rules, compliance, and governmental litigation in the context of the EU’s state aid policy. It highlights that supranational administrative acts have come to play an increasingly important role in this sector. On the one hand, member states thus had to rely more on actions for annulment as a way to keep the Commission in check. On the other hand, it allowed member states to use annulments to judicialize compliance conflict strategically as a way to engage the Court of Justice in the development of the EU’s state aid regime through judicial law-making. Yet, national governments differ substantially in terms of their willingness to initiate annulment litigation when confronted with adverse supranational administrative acts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This narrow focus has been chosen in order to present numbers that correspond to industrial state aid for which the sources of governmental litigation are analyzed in Chap. 5.

  2. 2.

    In fact, not all types of state aid are covered by the Directorate General Competition. Aid specified in article 107(3) that is directed at promoting growth in areas under abnormal economic distress is administered by DG Regional Policy. Similarly, aid that supports the construction of railways, shipping firms, or airlines is managed by Directorate General Energy and Transport (Cini and McGowan 2009: 188). This study excludes these areas of state aid from its scope, concentrating instead on processes within Directorate General Competition.

  3. 3.

    Consequently, this option is thus not included in Fig. 4.1 in order to ensure a high level of clarity among the most relevant options.

  4. 4.

    “SGEI are economic activities that would not be produced by market forces alone or at least not in the form of an affordable service available indiscriminately to all. SGEI are carried out in the public interest under conditions defined by the State, who imposes a public service obligation on one or more providers. SGEI range from large commercial activities, such as postal services, energy supply, telecommunications or public transport, to social services, such as care for the elderly and disabled” (Commission 2012b).

  5. 5.

    As cited in (Cini 2000: 18).

  6. 6.

    Commission Regulation No. 69/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the Application of articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty to De Minimis aid. Official Journal L 10, 13.01.2001, p. 30–32.

  7. 7.

    In addition, state guarantees of up to 1.5 million EUR are exempted from the notification requirement.

  8. 8.

    Council Regulation No. 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 Laying Down Detailed Rules for the Application of article 93 of the EC Treaty. Official Journal L 83/1, 27.03.1999: p. 1–9.

  9. 9.

    Commission Regulation (EC) No. 794/2004 Implementing Council Regulation (EC) No. 659/1999 Laying Down Detailed Rules for the Application of article 93 of the EC Treaty, Official Journal L140, 30.04.2004: p. 1–134.

  10. 10.

    State Aid Action Plan, Less and Better Targeted Aid: A Road Map for State Aid Reform 2005–08 Consultation Document, SEC (2005)795.

  11. 11.

    Communication from the Commission on State Aid Modernization (SAM) from 8.5.2012, COM (2012) 209 final.

  12. 12.

    Communication from the Commission on EUROPE 2020 from 3.3.2010 COM (2010) 2020.

  13. 13.

    Commission Notice on the Enforcement of State aid Law by National Courts. Official Journal C-85/1, 9.4.2009: p. 1–22.

  14. 14.

    Again, data on negative and conditional decisions was unavailable for the year 1997; this year has consequently been left out of the analysis.

  15. 15.

    On the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Official Journal C 83/210 Protocol No. 3.

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  1. München, Bayern, Germany

    Christian Adam

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Adam, C. (2016). State Aid Control in the European Union. In: The Politics of Judicial Review. European Administrative Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57832-7_4

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