State Aid in the EU – Less and More Targeted? (original) (raw)

The financial and economic crisis, which unfolded in the Autumn of 2008, has given rise to a number of plans and strategies. One of these was the ongoing reform of the EU state aid policy launched in 2005, with the slogan ‘less and more targeted’. The European Commission’s economic recovery plan of November 2008 has given a new direction to these reforms. The first, and most relevant, manifestation of this has been the temporary framework, published in December 2008, and all the state aid measures under this scheme, in force to December 31, 2010. In our study, after introducing the legal and strategic background, we examine Member States’ activities under the state aid scheme from the start of the crisis in the Autumn of 2008 until the Summer of 2010. At the end of our investigation we have come to the conclusion that state aid has by no means become less – and neither is it better targeted.