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The Status of Guidelines and Notices in Relation to the Application of Article 107(1) TFEU · Case C-211/20 P Valencia CF · Annotation by Cees Dekker journal article

Annotation of the Judgment of the Court of Justice (First Chamber) of 10 November 2022 in Case C‑211/20 P European Commission v Valencia Club de Fútbol SAD and Kingdom of Spain

Cees Dekker

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 22 (2023), Issue 2, Page 193 - 198

It is settled case law that the Commission may adopt guidelines and notices setting out how it will exercise its discretion under the State aid rules. These guidelines and notices limit the way in which the Commission exercises its powers. In the present case, the Court of Justice also assumes that role in relation to the Commission's Guarantee Notice. However, unlike other cases in which the Union Courts have ruled on the role of the Guidelines, which concerned the Commission's application of Article 107(3) TFEU, the present case concerns the application of Article 107(1) TFEU. It is also settled case law that the Commission does not have a wide margin of discretion in the application of Article 107(1) TFEU, as the concept of aid is legal in nature. The question is, therefore, whether the Commission can impose restrictions on itself in its assessment under Article 107(1) TFEU. The Court of Justice ignores this question.


Risk Finance Aid: journal article

Facilitating Access to Finance for SMEs, Start-Ups and Small or Innovative Middle-Capitalisation Firms

Gianni De Stefano, Wouter Dutillieux

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 21 (2022), Issue 3, Page 222 - 236

SMEs are the backbone of Member States’ economies, and are central to the EU’s economic development and resilience as a whole. Risk finance aid addresses market failures or other relevant obstacles that prevent SMEs and certain other non-large enterprises (ie, start-ups or certain middle-capitalisation firms (mid-caps), namely small or innovative mid-caps) from attracting the financing they require (eg, loans, guarantees or equity) to develop to their full potential. Risk finance aid for SMEs and start-ups, up to €15 million per beneficiary, can be block-exempted under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER); whereas aid to innovative or small mid-caps, or aid that goes beyond the GBER conditions, can be notified by the Member State and approved by the European Commission under the Risk Finance Guidelines. This article describes the revised Risk Finance Guidelines of 2021 and the ongoing revision of the GBER section on risk finance. Keywords: risk finance; risk capital; SMEs; start-ups; mid-caps; access to finance; GBER; Risk Finance Guidelines






2ND ESTAL PHD AWARD NOMINATIONS ∙ Soft Law and Their Symbiotic Relationship with the Block Exemptions? journal article

A Nordic Perspective

Katrine Lillerud

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 20 (2021), Issue 3, Page 337 - 358

This article provides an overview of the position of quasi-legislative measures also referred to as ‘soft law’ before and after the State aid Modernisation (SAM). The main intention of the article is to illustrate the symbiotic relationship between the revised horizontal and sectorial guidelines with the general block exemption regulation (GBER) after SAM. It demonstrates how a selected handful of horizontal and sectorial guidelines have been transformed to facilitate better use of the block exemption to enhance the Commission’s own policy objectives, in a nice hand in glove fit with the GBER to nudge States into block exempted expenditure. The empirical study compares Norway, Sweden and Finland’s use of the GBER and guidelines. It shows that the framework is now more than ever nudging aid expenditure. The micro study reveals a drastic change in use before and after SAM in the three Nordic countries – underling the nudging power of the reform. Keywords: EStAL PhD Award; soft law; guidelines; GBER; horizontal; SAM; nudging; Nordics.



Commission’s Decisional Practice on State Aid to Railway Companies for Transport Coordination journal article

Germano Guglielmi, Stefania Bello

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 19 (2020), Issue 3, Page 297 - 313

The concept of coordination of transport set forth by Article 93 TFEU is actually very vague. The Railway Guidelines provide guidance and criteria for the interpretation of this concept and the direct application to railway undertakings of Article 93 TFEU. This article focuses on the Commission Decisions concerning transport coordination, which directly or indirectly concern railway transport. In particular, the research aims at reconstructing State aid measures adopted between 2008 and 2019, assessed by the Commission pursuant either to Article 93 TFEU or to both Article 93 TFEU and the Railway Guidelines. The main purposes of this article are, firstly, to analyse how the Commission applied and interpreted this specific exception and, secondly, to assess whether the Railway Guidelines are sufficiently exhaustive or, on the contrary, they should be updated and/or extended in light of a potential revision under evaluation by the Commission. Keywords: transport coordination, Article 93 TFEU, Railway Guidelines