The Financial Crisis and State Aid

In: The Antitrust bulletin: the journal of American and foreign antitrust and trade regulation, Band 55, Heft 4, S. 759-782

Abstract

After the outbreak of the financial crisis in September 2008, Member States adopted a variety of policy instruments in order to protect their financial institutions and national economies. Within a mere couple of weeks after the outbreak of the crisis, it became obvious that existing EU rules were not suitable for dealing effectively with the problems facing financial markets, and single national measures could lead to excessive distortions of competition and disruption to the flow of resources between Member States. Instead of completely putting aside the existing state aid rules, the European Commission adopted special rules allowing it to act swiftly in times of financial crisis. These newly adopted measures raise questions regarding not only the integrity of the Internal Market but also the extent of the Commission control under the new system, legal certainty, the protection of competitors and the exit strategy.