Under the State aid rules, aid granted to port development shall not have been exempted from Article 108(3) of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) if it constitutes State aid falling under Article 107(1) of TFEU due to lack of block exemption before entering into force the amended GBER. Up until now the directly applicable legal base for investment aid to intermodal port projects is Article 93 of TFEU, which under aid meeting the needs of coordination of transport shall be compatible with the Treaties. State aid for port development had to be assessed on a case by case by the European Commission (COM). For the notified State aid measure the compatibility criteria follows the logic such as i. overall goal of the project, objective of common interest, ii. appropriateness of aid, iii. impact of the aid on competition and trade, and iv. justification of the necessity and proportionality of the aid and incentive effect. Following the above mentioned logic this article intends to give a summary and comparative analysis through the examples of and lessons learned from Hungarian cases.
Keywords: Port Development; Investment Aid; Compatibility; State Aid.