The European Commission is more tolerant towards state aid measures in times of crisis. During
the current energy crisis, the Commission has adopted several temporary frameworks which
include different State aid measures available to Member States. A comparison of these shows
that the Commission's policy is increasingly tolerant in the current crisis period. The latter is
reflected in the trend of higher upper limits of permitted state aid measures and in increase in
the number of aids available, which represent an exception to the general prohibition of state
aid. However, state aid measures can also have some negative consequences. The Commission
claims that a coordinated response by the member states is crucial. However, it is possible to
identify obvious inconsistencies between individual member states. Namely, out of a total of
672 billion approved state aid programs, 77% of it was approved to Germany and France. The
latter shows a major inconsistency which threatens the entire single market and represents a
risk that smaller and poorer member states will face a severe crisis, while larger and stronger
ones will make headway by handing out subsidies. An additional threat to competition is
represented by new American laws, which include many advantages and subsidies for
American companies. The latter represents the risk of moving companies or new investments
to the United States of America and not to the European Union. Consequently, some member
states attempt to further relax state aid rules, which could cause several negative effects. Any
further relaxation and extension of state aid measures also represents a serious threat of
increasing the gap between Germany and France and the other member states, as well as the
potential fragmentation of the single market.
|
