Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the consequences it brought for the European economy, the legal regulation of the energy sector and competition legislation has been a complex and crucial challenge for the European Union and the regulatory authorities of the member states. Two key areas of competition law are discussed, which have become important during the energy crisis: state aid and restrictions imposed by authority acts. The European Commission intervened and adopted new exceptions to the prohibition of state aid from Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in order to ensure the coordinated action of the member states and thereby preserve competition. However, Member States' practices regarding the notification of state aid to electricity companies varied. While Slovenia did not notify the European Commission of state aid granted to electricity companies to ensure liquidity on organized electricity markets, Germany and Austria, for example, did. I was interested in whether Slovenia, with the adoption of the official act that was the basis for the granting of state aid, especially the Act on the Guarantee of the Republic of Slovenia for the Obligations from Credits Taken Out to Ensure Liquidity on the Organized Electricity Markets and Emission Coupons and Obligations from the Purchase Additional Quantities of Natural Gas Outside the European Union Market, violated European competition rules. For the efficient operation of the energy market, the key is to promote competition between different energy providers, which includes the implementation of policies for the entry of new competitors into the market and ensuring transparent regulation in the field of state aid.
The master's thesis also presents thinking about whether the energy market is still liberalized in the field of production and sales after the crisis, or whether we are witnessing a process of re-regulation similar to the one that happened after the financial crisis in 2008 in the financial market.
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