Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: EU Commission to revamp state aid rules, focus on growth

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EU Commission to revamp state aid rules, focus on growth May 7th 2012, 10:17 By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS | Mon May 7, 2012 6:17am EDT BRUSSELS May 7 (Reuters) - EU competition regulators are set to overhaul state aid rules to make it easier for governments to fund schemes to stimulate economic growth, as part of a wider strategy to deal with a second recession in three years in the crisis-hit bloc. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, who has the task of ensuring public subsidies do not give an unfair advantage to firms receiving aid, will unveil the revised rules at a news conference at 1030 GMT on Tuesday. According to a Commission document obtained by Reuters, the revised rules aim to "ensure a faster exit from the crisis by helping member states' public spending to become more efficient, effective and targeted at growth-promoting policies". Since the start of the crisis in October 2008 and up to the end of December, the Commission has allowed EU governments to pump 1.6 trillion euros ($2.1 trillion) into a slew of banks affected by the crisis. That amount is roughly equal to 13 percent of the 27-member bloc's gross domestic product. The Commission has also approved 11.7 billion euros in public support for crisis-hit companies. EU regulators hope the revised rules will allow them to take more initiative in reviewing state aid cases, rather than having to wait for authorities or complainants to notify them of possible infringements of EU rules. The Commission document showed that 52 percent of all cases reviewed by regulators last year were notified by EU governments, about a third came from complaints, and just 8.5 percent were triggered by regulators themselves. The revamped rules also aim to speed up the regulator's decision-making process, which can currently take months or even years. ($1 = 0.7625 euros) (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; writing by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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