Margrethe Vestager – Photo © European Union 2017
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission approved Wednesday new state aid rules that exempt certain public support measures for ports, airports, culture and outermost EU regions from prior Commission scrutiny.
The objective, says the EU executive, is to facilitate public investment for job creation and growth whilst preserving competition.
“EU state aid rules are the same for all Member States,” said Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “Today’s changes will save them time and trouble when investing in ports and airports, culture and the EU’s outermost regions.”
They would also allow the Commission to focus on state aid measures that have the biggest impact on competition in the Single Market, she added, “to be “big on big things and small on small things” to the benefit of all European citizens.”
The 2014 ‘General Block Exemption Regulation’ enabled Member States to implement a wide range of state aid measures without prior Commission approval because they are unlikely to distort competition. As a result, about 95% of state aid measures implemented by Member States (with a combined annual expenditure of about 28 billion) are now exempted. For example, in the area of research, development and innovation the number of state aid notifications has halved since 2014.
The Commission has now extended the scope of this Regulation to ports and airports, following two public consultations.
As regards airports, Member States can now make public investments in regional airports handling up to 3 million passengers per year with full legal certainty and without prior control by the Commission. This will facilitate public investment in more than 420 airports across the EU (which account for about 13% of air traffic).
The Regulation also allows public authorities to cover operating costs of small airports handling up to 200,000 passengers per year. These small airports account for almost half of all airports in the EU but only 0.75% of air traffic. While they can make an important contribution to the connectivity of a region they are unlikely to distort competition in the EU Single Market.
With regard to ports, Member States can now make public investments of up to 150 million in sea ports and up to 50 million in inland ports with full legal certainty and without prior control by the Commission. The Regulation allows public authorities to cover the costs of dredging in ports and access waterways.
In addition, the Regulation includes a number of new simplifications in other areas. In particular, the Commission will only look at bigger state aid cases that involve a higher amount of aid for culture projects (and only if these measures actually constitute state aid, which in most instances is not the case) and for multi-purpose sports arenas.
The Commission has also made it easier for public authorities to compensate companies for the additional costs they face when operating in the EU’s outermost regions taking account of the specific challenges these companies are facing such as their remoteness and dependence on a few traded products.
The initiative aims to reduce administrative burdens for public authorities and other stakeholders in the context of the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness and Performance of EU Legislation (REFIT) agenda. It forms part of the Commission’s effort to focus state aid control on bigger cases that significantly impact competition in the Single Market, to the greatest benefit of consumers.
Widening scope of General Block Exemption Regulation – background guide
