- Volume 21 (2022), Issue 2
- Vol. 21 (2022), No. 2
- >
- Pages 181 - 187
- pp. 181 - 187
One Time, Last Time, or Why the CE Oltenia Lignite Restructuring Aid Approval Makes for an Accident, Not a Precedent · Commission Decision on State Aid SA.59974 Complexul Energetic Oltenia SA · Annotation by Clemens Ziegler
Annotation on the Commission Decision of 26 January 2022 on the State Aid SA.59974 – 2021/C (ex 2020/N, ex 2020/PN) which Romania Partially Implemented for Complexul Energetic Oltenia SA
The author considers the European Commission’s approval of the Romanian restructuring aid for Complexul Energetic Oltenia of January 2022 to be an accident. Allowing State aid for bankrupt undertakings’ investments in new fossil gas capacities without the conditions that are imposed on their competitors that would receive aid under the Commission’s Climate, Energy and Environmental Aid Guidelines leads to incoherence in the Commission’s State aid practice. It distorts the market situation for decades in a way contradicting the spirit of the Commission’s Green Deal. The Decision also shows the need for improving civil society actors’ participation rights in State aid proceedings and related court proceedings.