State aid control plays a pivotal role in ensuring the effective use of public resources while minimising distortions in competition and trade.
In recent years, State aid rules have been instrumental in accelerating the green transition of traditional industries. These rules have facilitated green investments through unprecedented public funds, aiming to position the EU as a future green industry leader. State aid rules also play a crucial role in promoting tax fairness among large multinationals, mitigating the impact of recent economic disruptions, and ensuring fair competition from foreign countries via the newly introduced Foreign Subsidies Regulation.
Rigorous economic and financial analyses are fundamental to the framework used to assess whether measures constitute State aid. These analyses also ensure that any identified State aid is proportionate and does not unduly distort competition.
We provide practical, tailored economic and strategic advice for private clients, authorities, and state-owned companies across the spectrum of State aid matters. Leveraging our expertise in economics, corporate finance, tax issues, and transfer pricing, we help our clients solve complex problems through rigorous analysis conveyed in a clear and intuitive manner, capable of withstanding scrutiny from relevant authorities and courts.
Our State aid team comprises international experts with extensive experience in applying economic and financial methods to State aid cases. We blend our core expertise in economics and finance with sector-specific knowledge in energy markets, postal services, telecoms, and transport. This combination allows us to offer solutions grounded in hard facts and clear stories, tailored to meet our clients’ needs.
We regularly support clients with economic and financial analysis in the following areas:
If you would like to find out how we can help you in this area, please reach out to the contact person below.
Download our one-pager about our State aid services.
Download our one-pager on how we can help you in aid notifications and EU-funding processes for your investment project.
We support clients in notification processes under a wide set of State aid guidelines. We assist in drafting applications, either in part of in part, typically in collaboration with our clients’ legal and technical project teams. We conduct funding gap analyses for assessing the proportionality and incentive effect of aid measures and to develop analyses of the competitive effects of aid in the context of compatibility assessments.
We assist clients in State aid investigations before the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority. We provide economic argumentation to respond to complaints including, in some cases, NPV and WACC evaluation and calculations, and gap assessments.
We support clients in compliance work by assessing whether a proposed subsidy qualifies for State aid. We assess if a public measure was granted on market terms and under what conditions a planned public measure could be designed to be granted on market terms by applying the Market Economy Operator Principle (MEOP)
We assist clients in the quantification of damages in instances where illegal State aid has resulted in damages being awarded to third parties. The quantification of damages requires economic analysis of the economic effects of the aid.
