Brussels, 18/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - At a high-level forum with the member states, the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, proposed a new approach to cooperation.
A working group on state aid and infrastructure projects will be set in place to share best practices on selecting and devising aid with a maximum impact on growth. The states are also invited to present proposals to ensure better compliance with the rules on state aid, also through proactive assessment of national measures in the field of taxation and in sectors in need of restructuring. The states are also invited to work with the Commission on a roadmap to improve transparency to inform citizens where their money has gone.
Additionally, the Commission has for the first time approved state aid evaluation plans for two regimes, in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. This will allow both countries to provide aid of more than €6 billion (€2.8 billion under the Czech regime and a preliminary budget of at least £3.2 billion for the United Kingdom) to stimulate investment and development. These two regimes may therefore run until 2020 without the need for further Commission approval. This, it explains, was made possible by the new General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), which relaxes the rules on the obligation for the prior notification of public support. The regulation comes as part of the strategy to modernise state aid. (EL)