Victor Ahlqvist, Adina Claici, Stephanie Tizik

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 19 (2020), Issue 2, Page 150 - 160

The unprecedented volume of State aid applications during the COVID-19 crisis presents new economic challenges and policy considerations related to the need for aid and the extent of the damages suffered by undertakings. In light of the current situation, this article presents the foundation for State aid during the outbreak of COVID-19, discusses the methodology for determining the damages using a counterfactual analysis and addresses some of the important factors that policy makers must balance in order to ensure that firms receive the necessary support while minimising the distortions on competition. Keywords: damage estimation, counterfactual analysis, COVID-19

Adrien Giraud, Sylvain Petit

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 16 (2017), Issue 2, Page 233 - 242

In its decisional practice developing tax ruling, the European Commission uses a theoretical reasoning that can in some instances appear somewhat disconnected from the facts of the cases. Indeed, all these cases boil down to one single determination (whether the concerned transfer prices were – or not – set at market levels) and the satisfaction of all the conditions for the existence of State aid derive directly from this (rather theoretical) question alone. Little to no account taken of important factual elements (such as for example the context of international fiscal competition) and several conclusions appear to be presumed rather than demonstrated (for example the distortion of competition). One therefore remains with the general impression that State aid law remains into a sort of exception to the rest of competition law: an area of law where reality does not (really) matter. Keywords: Tax Ruling; Selectivity; Advantage; Distortion of Competition; Counterfactual.