State aid poses a threat to both the functioning of the EU internal market and to the national markets of each Member State. While Article 107 TFEU safeguards the internal market, Member States still need their own national regulation to protect competition at the national level. This article describes how individual Member States can meet the challenge of such regulation alongside EU State aid law. As a case study, we present the Danish approach. Denmark has developed a three-stringed approach that comprise 1) EU regulation, 2) the Danish Competition Act, and 3) additional codified and non-codified regulation with a more comprehensive scope than that of simply ensuring competition. Issues that need special consideration, including balancing competition against other public interests, are analysed and the effectiveness of this way of dealing with the question of State aid is considered.
Keywords: multi-stringed regulation; national competition; effectiveness of regulation