Mate Ruzicska, LL.M.

Catch-22 in European State Aid Law: Between Liberalisation and Distortion of Competition

In the Covid pandemic, European State aid law was liberalised to guarantee member States the possibility of supporting the economy. In an economic crisis, the tension between the possibility to counteract and fair competition comes particularly to the fore. The European Commission gave priority to the former. However, the distortion of competition that this exacerbates is not collateral damage that can simply be accepted. It would be necessary to set up a compensation fund to consider the interests of the financially weaker member States and to preserve fair competition and cohesion in the EU.