Home / Europe / France / Competition & EU / State aid and EU subsidies

State aid and EU subsidies

Back to Competition & EU

State aid is a constantly developing field of law. The EU and its Member States and many other governments outside the EU have introduced or are about to implement far reaching public support schemes in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and its impact on the entire economy, and the Green Deal. In fact, the ambitious goals of the Green Deal (e.g., “Fit for 55”) and the conversion of many sectors of the economy to cleaner sources of energy will only be reached based on a broad swathe of public funding.

We advise both public authorities and private and state-owned companies on all aspects of the state aid rules within the EU and all countries which have also introduced legal regimes to control subsidies (including the UK post-Brexit). We help businesses to get the most out of state aid in their discussions with state authorities and represent their interests in all state aid proceedings at the EU Commission, national authorities, EU, and national Courts.

We provide advice to public authorities on all levels (federal governments, regions, municipalities) on their public investments (capital injections, public loans, guarantees, land sales etc.), decisions to grant individual aid and the setting up of State aid schemes and we assist them – often also in the interests of our private clients – in notifications to the European Commission. 
We have advised several governments in Europe on the set-up of far-reaching state aid schemes with a multi-billion-euro total budget and/or supportive measures based on these state aid programmes or on individual aid.

We support private businesses concerning their state aid strategies, e.g., in the context of the Green Deal or concerning state funded initiatives to make the economy more resilient (e.g., EU chips act, gas and energy supplies). We are also familiar with the specific requirements of an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI). Lawyers from our team have market leading sector specific expertise in State aid matters in the agricultural, automotive, aviation, banking, energy, TMC and transport sectors. Our activity ultimately encompasses the financial support directly granted by the EU and its institutions.


Feed

19/01/2024
Greenwashing: Stricter EU rules on environmental marketing ban misleading...
On 17 January 2024, the European Parliament voted to adopt the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (the ECGT Directive), which seeks to protect consumers from various misleading...
24/11/2023
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism transition in effect since 1 October...
On 1 October 2023, a two-year transitional period began for implementation of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, which introduces the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). CBAM levies punitive CO2 charges...
20/02/2023
Sunrise period of the Unified Patent Court to begin 1 March
After the final version of the UPC Rules of Procedure had been adopted and the judges of the UPC had been selected and appointed, the start of the Sunrise Period, originally planned for 1 January 2023...
13/09/2022
UPC Rules of Procedure go into force with judgments to be made public
The entry into force of the Rules of Procedure is part of the final preparations for the United Patent Court (UPC), which is currently expected to start work in early 2023. After the bodies of the UPC...
12/05/2022
10 key aspects of the revised EU competition law in the field of distribution...
The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the new accompanying Vertical Guidelines (VGL) were published on 10 May 2022. The new VBER will enter into force on 1 June 2022 and apply for the...
11/05/2022
The General Court of the EU confirms the legality of the rescue aid to...
On 4 May 2022, the General Court of the EU confirmed the legality of the Commission's decision approving rescue aid of 36.66 million EUR from Romania to the airline TAROM. It found that the aid was indeed...
11/03/2022
EU Opinion on the Proposed Product Safety Regulation
The European Commission has put forward a proposal for a new refreshed Regulation on product safety in line with the New Consumer Agenda (the “Proposed Regulation”). If passed in its current form...
27/02/2022
Handling the new EU and UK sanctions against Russia
Since 2014, the EU and the UK have progressively imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the crisis in Ukraine. Following the latest events, both the EU and the UK, as well as many other countries...
12/08/2021
Important consultation on classification, labelling and packaging of substances...
Overview Until 15 November 2021 the European Commission (“Com­mis­sion”) is consulting on proposed revisions to Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances...
15/07/2021
European Commission published drafts of the revised Vertical Block Exemption...
On 9 July, the European Commission published its draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the corresponding Vertical Guidelines. The VBER concerns vertical agreements, which are agreements...
01/06/2021
Some leaks can't be fixed
“Confidential information is like an ice cube... give it to the party who has no refrigerator or will not agree to keep it in one, and by the time of the trial you have just a pool of water.” This...
05/03/2021
ECJ rulings attempt to strike balance in EU gambling sector
In the absence of harmonised EU gambling legislation, member states have the discretion to decide the level of protection granted to gambling consumers in their respective jurisdiction, according to the...