State Aid Law Blog

State Aid Uncovered Blog

In Lexxion’s State Aid Uncovered blog, Prof. Phedon Nicolaides publishes weekly critical analyses of recent State aid judgments and decisions. Each post presents the key points of a court judgment or EU Commission decision, places it in the context of similar case law or practice, assesses the underlying reasoning and highlights any inconsistencies or contradictions.

Guest contributions from other State aid experts will also be published on the blog at irregular intervals to complement the content of the blog posts.

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21. May 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Authorisation of State Aid after the Start of a Project
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 13
Introduction In June 2021, the European Commission, in decision SA.55526, approved an amount of EUR 167 million of State aid for the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas [LNG] terminal close to Alexandroupolis in northern Greece. In December 2022, Greece notified a measure involving additional State aid of EUR 106 million for the same project. The Commission authorised […]
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14. May 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Restructuring State Aid
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 12
Introduction State aid to failing undertakings is the most distortionary form of public subsidies. They prevent the market exit of inefficient companies. For this reason, State aid for rescue or restructuring of undertakings in difficulty must always be notified to the Commission which examines each case very carefully and allows this kind of aid only when, among other things, the […]
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7. May 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Public Procurement and State Aid
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 2
Introduction A faulty public procurement procedure or the use of discriminatory selection criteria can confer an advantage on the chosen undertaking that may constitute an advantage in the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. The result will be infringement of both public procurement rules and State aid rules. A recent Commission decision, SA.47650, is instructive on how Member States should design […]
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30. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

A Case of a Narrow Tax that Is Not Selective
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 11
Introduction On 17 April 2024, the General Court ruled, in case T-112/22, Ideella föreningen Svenska Bankföreningen med firma Svenska Bankföreningen, Näringsverksamhet & Länsförsäkringar Bank v Commission, that a Swedish tax on only nine banks was not selective by not taxing the many smaller banks.1 The applicants, a Swedish banking association and a Swedish bank, respectively, sought the annulment of Commission […]
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23. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Pricing of Access to Infrastructure for the Treatment of Waste Water
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 10
Introduction It is not unusual for EU courts to refer to the Commission’s 2016 Notice on the Notion of State Aid as a means of shedding light to the more obscure aspects of that notion. What is very unusual is for EU courts to treat the Notice as if it has the same status as the guidelines that bind the […]
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16. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Awards by Arbitration Tribunal
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 9
Introduction In an unusual judgment, the Court of Justice found on 14 March 2024, in case C-516/22, Commission v UK, that the UK had infringed Article 4(3) TEU, Article 108(3) TFEU, Article 267(1)&(3) TFEU and Article 351(1) TFEU, in conjunction with Article 127(1) of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU because the UK Supreme Court […]
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9. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

An Innovative Risk-Sharing Tool for the Support of an LNG Terminal
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 8
Introduction The Commission, in decision SA.102163, authorised State aid for the construction of a terminal for liquefied natural gas [LNG] in Brunsbüttel, Germany.1 The project consists of an LNG import, storage and distribution facility with annual capacity of about 10 billion m3. The project is carried out by the German LNG Terminal GmbH [GLNG] which has three shareholders: the Dutch […]
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2. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

The Court of Justice Conflates Objective Justification with Policy Objective, in the context of Public Support of Green Electricity
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered SM posts
Introduction Suppose a Member State subsidises the installation of solar panels on the roof of a corporate building situated at number 5 on Main Street. Is this a general measure because there is no other building in the whole country with the same address? Of course, it is not a general measure. The uniqueness of the address is irrelevant. Apart […]
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26. March 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Applying the Funding Gap Method to an Important Project of Common European Interest – Part II
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 7
Introduction On 28 February 2024, the General Court delivered an important judgment in case T-390/20, Scandlines v Commission.(1) The judgment is important because it interpreted the Commission guidelines on Important Projects of Common European Interest [IPCEI], the funding gap methodology for determining the necessary amount of aid and the 2008 Commission Notice on state guarantees. Scandlines sought annulment of Commission […]
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19. March 2024  |   by Phedon Nicolaides

Applying the Funding Gap Method to an Important Project of Common European Interest – Part I
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 1
Introduction On 28 February 2024, the General Court delivered an important judgment in case T-390/20, Scandlines v Commission.(1) The judgment is important because it interpreted the Commission guidelines on Important Projects of Common European Interest [IPCEI], the funding gap methodology for determining the necessary amount of aid and the 2008 Commission Notice on state guarantees. Scandlines sought annulment of Commission […]
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30. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

A Case of a Narrow Tax that Is Not Selective
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 11
Introduction On 17 April 2024, the General Court ruled, in case T-112/22, Ideella föreningen Svenska Bankföreningen med firma Svenska Bankföreningen, Näringsverksamhet & Länsförsäkringar Bank v Commission, that a Swedish tax on only nine banks was not selective by not taxing the many smaller banks.1 The applicants, a Swedish banking association and a Swedish bank, respectively, sought the annulment of Commission […]
read more
No Comments
23. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Pricing of Access to Infrastructure for the Treatment of Waste Water
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 10
Introduction It is not unusual for EU courts to refer to the Commission’s 2016 Notice on the Notion of State Aid as a means of shedding light to the more obscure aspects of that notion. What is very unusual is for EU courts to treat the Notice as if it has the same status as the guidelines that bind the […]
read more
No Comments
16. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Awards by Arbitration Tribunal
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 9
Introduction In an unusual judgment, the Court of Justice found on 14 March 2024, in case C-516/22, Commission v UK, that the UK had infringed Article 4(3) TEU, Article 108(3) TFEU, Article 267(1)&(3) TFEU and Article 351(1) TFEU, in conjunction with Article 127(1) of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU because the UK Supreme Court […]
read more
No Comments
9. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

An Innovative Risk-Sharing Tool for the Support of an LNG Terminal
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 8
Introduction The Commission, in decision SA.102163, authorised State aid for the construction of a terminal for liquefied natural gas [LNG] in Brunsbüttel, Germany.1 The project consists of an LNG import, storage and distribution facility with annual capacity of about 10 billion m3. The project is carried out by the German LNG Terminal GmbH [GLNG] which has three shareholders: the Dutch […]
read more
No Comments
2. April 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

The Court of Justice Conflates Objective Justification with Policy Objective, in the context of Public Support of Green Electricity
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered SM posts
Introduction Suppose a Member State subsidises the installation of solar panels on the roof of a corporate building situated at number 5 on Main Street. Is this a general measure because there is no other building in the whole country with the same address? Of course, it is not a general measure. The uniqueness of the address is irrelevant. Apart […]
read more
No Comments
26. March 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Applying the Funding Gap Method to an Important Project of Common European Interest – Part II
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 7
Introduction On 28 February 2024, the General Court delivered an important judgment in case T-390/20, Scandlines v Commission.(1) The judgment is important because it interpreted the Commission guidelines on Important Projects of Common European Interest [IPCEI], the funding gap methodology for determining the necessary amount of aid and the 2008 Commission Notice on state guarantees. Scandlines sought annulment of Commission […]
read more
No Comments
12. March 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Public Infrastructure and State Prerogatives
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos
Introduction On 28 February 2024, the General Court delivered two important judgments on the presence of State aid and its compatibility with the internal market in connection to public funding of the Fehmarn Fixed Link between Denmark and Germany. The Fixed Link is a major infrastructure project consisting of tunnels, bridges and access road and rail connections. The judgments of […]
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5. March 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

State Aid and Arbitration of Disputes
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos
Introduction On 22 February 2024, the Court of Justice [CJEU] delivered its judgment in joined Cases C-701/21 P and C-739/21 P, Mytilinaios v DEI & European Commission. Mytilinaios, a Greek company, and the Commission appealed against the judgment of the General Court in case T-639/14 RENV, DEI v Commission, concerning arbitration of a dispute between Mytilinaios and DEI, the main […]
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27. February 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

A Large Regional Investment Project in Spain
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 6
Introduction Most State aid to “large” investment projects is granted by the Member States in Central and Eastern Europe. Moreover, most of the aid goes to induce companies to locate their projects in those countries and to overcome regional handicaps that make the investments less profitable or even loss-making than in other locations. By contrast, regional aid granted to large […]
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20. February 2024  |   State Aid Uncovered by Phedon Nicolaides

Another Case of Indirect State Aid
State Aid Blogs - State Aid Uncovered photos 4
Introduction On 19 May 2021, the General Court, in case T-643/20, Ryanair v Commission, annulled Commission decision SA.57116 by which it authorised State aid in favour of KLM in the context of the measures implemented by the Dutch government to address the covid-19 pandemic. In July 2021, the Commission re-adopted its original decision without the errors that had been identified […]
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11. November 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Dimitrios Kyriazis

Summary of Lexxion Seminar: State aid for Tax Measures on 26-27 October 2015, Brussels
Lexxion Seminar
The following is a summary of the main points that were presented and the issues that were discussed in the seminar on State aid in Tax Measures that was held in Brussels on 26-27 October 2015. The summary has been prepared for information purposes only and it is not meant to be a precise record of the proceedings of the […]
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5. November 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary – November 2015
gavel
Find below the court’s diary for all State aid cases. Would you like to write a comment on one of them? Please don’t hesitate and get in touch with us ([email protected]), we are happy to publish your comment on the blog.   Wednesday 11/11/2015 Judgment in Case C-505/14 – Klausner Holz Niedersachsen (Court of Justice – Second Chamber) Thursday 12/11/2015 Judgment in […]
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22. October 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Emanuela Matei

A new misnomer in State aid law: single economic unit with separate legal personality (C 357/14 P, Dunamenti Erőmű/Commission)
electricity grid cables
The following blog post is a contributory piece by Emanuela Matei, Associate Researcher at the Centre of European Legal Studies, Bucharest. Matei holds a Juris Master in European Business Law (Lund University, June 2012), a Magister legum (Lund University, June 2010) and a BSc in Economics & Business Administration (Lund University, June 2009). We are very glad to welcome her […]
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12. October 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

Courts’s Diary – October 2015
gavel
Any comments on #Stateaid? Get in touch: Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.eu   Thursday 01/10/2015 Judgment in Case C-357/14 P – Electrabel and Dunamenti Erőmű v Commission (Court of Justice – Third Chamber)   Tuesday 06/10/2015 Judgment in Case C-303/13 P – Andersen v Commission (Court of Justice – Grand Chamber)   Thursday 08/10/2015 Hearing in Joined Cases T-479/11 & T-157/12 – France v Commission, […]
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24. September 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Gian Marco Galletti

How Reasonable The Private Investor May Be Assumed To Be? Corsica Ferries France
steel construction
The following article summary is a contributory piece by Gian Marco Galletti. The full piece was published in the Common Market Law Review. Galletti is working as a researcher at the Dickson Poon School of Law since 2013. He is currently working on a PhD in European law under the supervision of Prof. Andrea Biondi. He holds an LLB with […]
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1. September 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary – September 2015
gavel
Any comments on #Stateaid? Get in touch: Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.eu   Thursday 03/09/2015   Judgment in Case C-89/14 – A2A (Court of Justice – Fifth Chamber)Tuesday 08/09/2015 Hearing in Case T-103/14 – Frucona Košice v Commission (General Court – Second Chamber)Thursday 17/09/2015 Judgment in Case C-33/14 P – Mory and Others v Commission (Court of Justice – Third Chamber)   Friday 18/09/2015 Judgment […]
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2. July 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary – July 2015
gavel
Any comments on #Stateaid? Get in touch: Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.de Wednesday 01/07/2015 Opinion in Case C-357/14 P Dunamenti Erőmű v Commission (Court of Justice – Third Chamber)   Thursday 02/07/2015 Judgment in Joined cases T-425/04 RENV France v Commission, T-444/04 RENV Orange v Commission (General Court – Sixth Chamber, Extended Composition)   Wednesday 08/07/2015 Hearing in Case T-287/11 Heitkamp BauHolding v Commission (General Court – Ninth […]
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17. June 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

EStAL Best Reviewer Award 2014/2015
Last week our 13th Experts’ Forum on New Developments in European State Aid Law took place. From 10th to 12th June 2015 a group of enthusiastic professionals interested in State Aid gathered at the Club of the University Foundation in Brussels to discuss the most recent issues on the topic. In the realm of this conference, we were proud to announce our […]
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3. June 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary – June 2015
gavel
Any comments on #Stateaid? Get in touch: Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.eu Thursday 04/06/2015 Judgment in Case C-15/14 P Commission v MOL (Court of Justice – First Chamber)   Tuesday 09/06/2015 Hearing in Case T-515/13 Spain v Commission (General Court – Seventh Chamber)   Wednesday 10/06/2015 Hearing in Case C-367/14 Commission v Italy (Court of Justice – Third Chamber) Hearing in Case T-719/13 Lico Leasing and Pequeños y […]
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27. April 2015  |   Guest State Aid Blog by Lexxion Publisher

Court’s Diary – May 2015
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Interested in #Stateaid? Get in touch and write a blog post or a comment for the hub! Stateaidhub[at]lexxion.eu Wednesday 06/05/2015 Judgement in Case C-674/13 Commission v Germany (Court of Justice – Second Chamber) Hearing, Joined Cases T-50/06 RENV II, T-69/06 RENVII Ireland v Commission, Aughinish Alumina v Commission (General Court – First Chamber, Extended Composition)   Wednesday 13/05/2015 Judgement in Case […]
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