Brussels, 08/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission published a special edition of the State Aid Scoreboard on 8 April, focusing on measures that member states have adopted and that have been reviewed and coordinated by the Commission in the current financial and economic crisis.
In a press release, the Commission states that “coordinated action by member states and the Commission has allowed the rapid implementation of adequate support schemes and ad hoc measures to meet the financial crisis challenge without undue distortions of competition”. Since September 2008, the Commission has adopted more than 50 decisions, often in record time. It states that this effort has contributed to maintaining financial stability and restoring confidence in the financial sector and in the economy as a whole, while preserving incentives for appropriate risk taking and competition in the future. State aid control, it adds, has been “essential to avoid subsidy races and to safeguard a level playing field for companies in the single market. It has safeguarded the interests of sound financial institutions able to operate without state aid”.
The special spring Scoreboard shows that the overall maximum volume of crisis measures in support of financial institutions, so far approved by the Commission, amounts to around €3,000 billion. This figure represents the overall maximum amount of guarantee umbrellas (up to €2,300 billion), recapitalisation schemes (close to €300 billion) and ad hoc rescue and restructuring measures in favour of individual banks and financial institutions (around €400 billion). The actual state aid volume will be significantly lower, in particular because the aid element of state guarantees normally constitutes only a small fraction of the guaranteed amounts. Real budgetary expenditure materialises only when a state guarantee is actually drawn.
The Commission points out that, since the beginning of October 2008, it has adopted three communications, in close cooperation with the member states: the “Banking Communication” of 13 October 2008, the “Recapitalisation Communication” of 5 December 2008, and the “Impaired Assets Communication” of 25 February 2009. The Scoreboard may be consulted at the following address: http: //ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/studies_reports/2009_spring_en.pdf. (O.L./transl.jl)