Philipp Werner, Théodore Plat

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 23 (2024), Issue 1, Page 62 - 68

The judgment Commission v Braesch relates to the standing of third parties to bring an action for annulment against a Commission decision in the preliminary examination stage. The Court provides important clarifications on the scope of this type of decision and on the concept of “interested parties”, especially with regard to commitments given by a Member State during the notification phase.

Philipp Werner, Marcello Caramazza

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 18 (2019), Issue 4, Page 519 - 527

This article provides an overview of the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of the criterion of ‘State resources’ as an essential element for the definition of State aid provided under Article 107 (1) TFEU. In 2019, the CJEU issued four important judgments (ENEA, EEG, Tercas and Achema) towards clarifying when a measure can or cannot be considered as implemented using State resources, and the elements that the Commission can rely upon to prove the public nature of the resources. In light of earlier Case law in interpreting this criterion (in particular, the landmark Stardust Marine, PreussenElektra, and Pearle Cases), the authors analyse the new judgments and the CJEU’s efforts to strike a balance between the wide interpretation of the concept of ‘State resources’, encompassing public funds and contributions from private actors, and the Commission’s burden of proof in imputing monies to the State.

Philipp Werner, Lucia Stoican

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 17 (2018), Issue 1, Page 101 - 109

The NOx case demonstrates that selectivity continues to be the lynchpin in the assessment of State aid measures. Even though the case has not provided much guidance, it has shown tendencies that were confirmed in later case law: a wide interpretation of selectivity; uncertainty about the application of the selectivity criterion by the Commission, the GC and the CJEU; and divergent views of the CJEU and the GC. For the sake of legal clarity, the CJEU should have clarified which factors it deemed pertinent to determine the ‘similarity’ of undertakings subject to the NOx scheme. This would have provided clarity for the determination of the correct ‘reference framework’ in future cases, which in turn would have made it easier to identify ‘comparable’ market situations. We are focusing in this note on two of the conditions for the existence of State aid under Article 107(1) TFEU, namely selectivity and State resources. Keywords: Material Selectivity; State Resources; Comparability; Reference Framework; NOx Emissions.

Philipp Werner, Martina Maier

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 8 (2009), Issue 2, Page 10

In the current financial and economic crisis, the European Commission is faced with a great number of emergency measures and is under a lot of political and economic pressure to deal with these cases quickly. In order to maintain at least the substantive standards of State aid control, the Commission has opted for a special crisis procedure. The main characteristics of the crisis procedure are speed, a streamlined consultation process within DG Comp a