The Future Of State Aid

New Perspectives on Fiscal State Aid Legitimacy and Effectiveness of Fiscal State Aid Control Edited by Carla De Pietro Based on a project co-funded by the European Commission, this book focuses on fiscal state aid – an increasingly important topic – with a number of high-profile cases ongoing and with serious implications for sustainable growth and the future of the internal market. The project, conducted by four universities, consisted in seminars, workshops and a final conference aimed at training national tax judges from the four different countries involved (Austria, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands), with discussion and reflection by international academics and other tax professionals who participated as speakers and/or discussants. This book presents an in-depth analysis of the topics the project dealt with, taking a giant step towards defining the connection between effective state aid control, its legitimacy and a desirable functioning of the internal market for the twenty-first century. The core elements of this fundamental analysis include the following: selectivity as applied in the case law of the Court of Justice; whether and to what extent state aid law limits European Union (EU) Member States in designing anti-tax avoidance measures; protection of legitimate expectations; to what extent national judges are required to apply state aid rules ex officio; powers of national judges in connection with the national obligation of guaranteeing an immediate and effective recovery on the basis of an order issued by the European Commission; and connection between legitimacy of state aid law and effectiveness of state aid control. The book includes a thorough investigation of the notion of fiscal state aid, also by focusing on the most recent decisions of the European Commission concerning mismatches. Representing, as it does, an important and concrete contribution to the intense debate about the interpretation of the notion of fiscal state aid, with different normative views about the goals and functions of control, this book will stimulate solutions in terms of legitimacy of fiscal state aid control that also take into consideration the most desirable functioning of the internal market. It will be welcomed not only by academics in taxation and EU law but also by national tax judges, tax authorities and practitioners.

Why do the Member States of the European Union still grant aid and is that aid compatible with the objective of integration which should result in a better allocation of resources? The main purpose of this book is to explain the principles and methods of EC state aid policy in a manner which is both accessible and useful to practitioners and policy makers, by bringing together contributions from officials (both Community and national), industry representatives, and academics. In particular, it examines both theory on the role and objective of public assistance and current practice controlling such assistance. It addresses the issue of state aid from economic, legal and administrative perspectives and offers detailed information on current practice through case studies. It also considers likely future developments in the Community framework of state aid control. Finally, this book identifies major weaknesses in the present system of state aid rules, and paves the way for a proper economic analysis of the effects of forty years of state aid policy in the European Community.

This book analyses the recent modernisation of EU State aid law from various perspectives, and considers both substantive and procedural aspects. It also discusses the reasons for, and the goals and future implications of the modernisation programme, including the evolution of the concept of State aid. The ambitious reform programme was launched in 2012 and has now been almost fully implemented by virtue of the adoption of new rules of procedure in July 2013, and exemption in June 2014. The book highlights the main aspects of this sector reform, which include the Commission’s change of attitude towards so-called positive aid, i.e. those able to promote economic growth, and the intention to focus on matters of greater systematic extent. These objectives also imply a third aspect: increasing the intensity of the control powers conferred on the Commission with regard to that aid that prove to be harmful to competition and the internal market. The book also examines the greater responsibility given to States for self-assessment of their economic policy measures, and explores the resulting impact on, and challenges posed to the administrations of the Member States. The book’s second part is devoted to the application State aid rules in the area of services of general economic interest, with a special focus on aid in the field of social health and infrastructure.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of how EU state aid law is shaping the future of EU investment policy in a global context. It examines in detail how EU state aid policy and practice interact with the EU investment regime on the internal market and affect the external trade relations of the Member States and the EU alike. The debate this book engages in concerns competence, i.e., which body delineates the scope of state aid law and policy (now and in the future) when and where it intersects and collides with another distinct legal field: investment protection. Pursuing a doctrinal approach to the topic in the light of EU law and international law, the book analyses the interaction of the EU’s trade, state aid and investment policy. This is done by posing the following research question: How is EU state aid law shaping the future of EU investment policy in a global context? Further, the book puts forward three corresponding arguments. First, this influence can be seen in the EU’s incorporation of clauses promoting fair competition and state aid policy in international trade agreements. Second, EU state aid law and policy contributed to recent internal developments which led the Member States to terminate their bilateral agreements with each other (intra-EU BITs) by the end of 2019. Third, the EU has been working to replace the BITs between its Member States and third countries (extra-EU BITs) with its own trade agreements, which are aligned with EU legislation. This combined analysis of EU law and international law yields a number of interesting conclusions. The book addresses a highly topical and rapidly evolving area of EU law and international investment law. It is also the first book to provide a comprehensive approach to the interplay of state aid rules and EU investment policy internally and externally, i.e., within the EU and on a global scale. As such, it closes an important gap in the extant literature on international and EU law.

Analyzing the evolution of the legal concept of State aid in the EU, this book examines the main formulas established by the Court of Justice of the EU since the early 1950s, underpinning the legal boundaries of State aid in relation to the historical, political, economic, and legal evolution of its field of application: the internal market.

The rationales for various state-finance distribution formulas, from 1896 to the present, are explained along with the rationales of the lawsuits questioning their validity. Chapter 1 describes attempts at financial equity from 1896 to the 1950s. Chapter 2 examines the current status of financing public education, emphasizing a state's obligation to provide equal educational opportunity despite the vast difference in the distribution of wealth from one district to another. Chapter 3 examines state and local revenues and the equity for taxpayers and students. Chapter 4 explains the types of distribution formulas, the state methods of aiding compensatory education, and state cost-equalization schemes. Chapter 5 explains statistical techniques used to estimate the degree of equity achieved. Chapter 6 shows the rationales used to challenge a state's financial formula. Chapter 7 describes specific lawsuits from "Serrano v. Priest" to "San Antonio v. Rodriguez." Chapter 8 examines contemporary challenges since "Rodriguez." Chapter 9 surveys current litigation strategies that have been successful. Chapter 10 offers predictions for future educational finance issues. A useful appendix includes each state's constitutional wording for education and equity concerns. (RKJ)

This revised and updated Research Handbook on European State Aid Law brings together established academics and practitioners to provide a wide-ranging coverage of the field. Incorporating political science, economics and the law in its analysis, it provides a strong overview of the salient issues in State aid law and policy.

The increasing importance attached to the economic and social cohesion of the European Union since the 1980s, and the role of competition policy in achieving this objective, has special significance for the control of regional aids, given the general ban on State aid. Regional aids are considered to have the potential to contribute to economic and social cohesion and to undermine its attainment. The notion of competition policy as an instrument of economic and social cohesion has become a standard part of Commission rhetoric in defence of its actions. This book is concerned with the influence of EU competition policy on the regional policies of the Member States. It focuses on how the European Commission has interpreted the derogations from the State aid ban to enable the conduct of regional aid policies. The book takes both a historical perspective, tracing the evolution of policy, and a thematic one, examining in particular the relationship between EU competition and cohesion policies and the treatment of aid to very large projects. The author clearly demonstrates that, in reality, the competition policy control of regional aids is of much longer standing than the community?s explicit regional aid policy and, in many respects, of arguably greater influence. She shows how competition policy has for almost thirty years shaped the design, scope and implementation of national regional aid policies; in no EU country has regional policy been unaffected by Commission intervention in the name of competition policy. Moreover, the policy principles developed for the EU now apply extraterritorially to members of the European Economic Area and to the current applicant countries. The study?s overall perspective is policy-oriented. It considers both the impact of Commission intervention in the past and the implications of policy for the future, especially in the context of enlargement and a wider Europe. It will be an invaluable resource for all policymakers and practitioners active in the fields of economic development, regional policy and State aid law at European, national and subnational levels.

Where state aid is distorting competition and creating inefficiencies it should and can be (self-)regulated. The European system of external monitoring and disciplines that the countries within the European Union are agreeing to have imposed on themselves has proven to reduce state aid levels and thereby increase overall welfare. Other than those that stem from its WTO commitments, New Zealand has no such monitoring mechanisms or disciplines, yet does, as do many other countries, provide state aid in various forms across different sectors of the economy, including public services. It is therefore important to understand the rationales behind the provision of different types of state aid, as well as its potentially negative effects on welfare. The European experience can then function as a benchmark for New Zealand and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region when considering the design of state aid rules in the future.