On Wednesday 17 May, the European Commission presented a revision of the general block exemption regulation for State aid.
This update will mean that several projects will be able to be supported by the member states without having to be notified to the European institution, as long as they meet certain criteria. These include certain assistance projects for port and airport infrastructure, the extremely remote regions and the field of sport and culture.
In this way, the regulation will allow states to cover the operating costs of small airports (handling up to 200,000 passengers a year). The states will also be able to make public investments of up to €150 million in maritime ports and up to €50 million in inland ports.
Readers may recall that the general block exemption regulation, which dates from 2014, allows states not to notify aid up to a certain financial threshold as long as it aims to create or develop activity without distorting competition. It particularly covers aid for relatively modest amounts. Today, around 95% of state aid (representing an envelope of €28 billion) is exempt from notification requirements.
This revision of the regulation in question aims to make public investment easier and create jobs. According to the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, the suggested changes to the regulation will “allow the Commission to focus attention on state aid measures that have the biggest impact on competition in the single market”.
One important clarification is that the new regulation will apply retroactively and therefore cover aid not yet notified to the Commission. This is, however, not expected to raise too many problems, as the state aid measures currently under examination have already been interpreted in light of these new provisions. Vestager nonetheless stressed that the decisions made were definitive. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)