Wout De Cock, Gregory Kegels, Caroline Buts, Cind Du Bois

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 22 (2023), Issue 2, Page 150 - 160

The current geopolitical situation has led to various calls for investment in Europe’s strategic autonomy, for example with regard to the defence and security sector. However, the possibility for Member States to grant financial support is restricted by EU State aid law, leading some stakeholders to argue that there is a friction between the geopolitical need to invest in Europe’s strategic autonomy on the one hand, and EU State aid law on the other. In this contribution, we examine whether Member States could avoid and/or alleviate this friction by invoking Article 346(1)(b) TFEU. This Treaty provision, often overlooked by legal scholars, stipulates that Member States may, in principle, take all measures they consider necessary for the protection of their essential security interests, without having to consider EU State aid law. By analysing relevant case-law of the EU Courts, however, we argue that the aforementioned Treaty provision has a limited scope, and that, therefore, Member States, in principle, must comply with the EU State aid rules when they contribute to Europe’s strategic autonomy. Keywords: Article 346(1)(b) TFEU; (open) strategic autonomy; investments; essential security interests; dual-use goods; R&D; defence sector

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 21 (2022), Issue 1,

Andreas Bartosch

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 21 (2022), Issue 1, Page 1 - 2

Emma Besselink

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 21 (2022), Issue 4, Page 454 - 457

Diego Andres Olaya Lasso, Caroline Buts

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 17 (2018), Issue 2, Page 177 - 191

Innovation is of crucial importance in modern knowledge and information driven economies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are relatively dynamic and thus essential in the generation of inventions. However, SMEs’ innovative performance is not uniform and a particularly interesting subgroup has been identified: Young Innovative Companies (YICs). While YICs’ favourably influence also the macroeconomic competitiveness of a country, little research has been carried out regarding the effects of diverse support policies. This article hence aims to contribute to the literature by examining the role of subsidies on the innovative performance of YICs. We build a dataset of all Belgian companies and monitor firm level microdata from 2010 until 2015. The empirical analysis aims, in a first stage, to identify the population of YICs in Belgium and the main industries where they operate. In a second phase, we then evaluate whether YICs have a superior innovative performance relative to other types of businesses and especially whether support policies have been effective in stimulating their innovations. From the negative binomial model, we conclude that subsidies prove to be an essential policy instrument favouring the creation of inventions by YICs. It is important for policy to promote and support YICs’ entrepreneurship before as well as during their way towards innovation. Keywords: Innovation; Subsidy; R&D; Young Innovative Company; Count Models.