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In the recent newsletter of the State Aid Unit of the Centre for International European and Economic Law (CEECL), the Commission published the annual State Aid Scoreboard 2023.
The scoreboard contains a detailed overview of European Union (EU) spending for amounts granted in 2022, based on reports submitted by Member States. The report indicates a significant reduction in state aid spending compared to 2021, by around 34.8%.
In 2022, Member States recorded State aid expenditure of around €228 million for all objectives, including crisis response measures (coronavirus and war in Ukraine). The corresponding amount for 2021 was approximately EUR 349.7 million, which was EUR 121.7 million higher than the 2022 expenditure.
The primary reason for granting state aid is crisis response, aid granted through effective procedures adopted by the European Commission. In particular, 33.6% of the 2022 State aid (EUR 75.650 million) was aimed at addressing the impact of the coronavirus, while 17% (EUR 39.330 million) was aimed at addressing the impact of the war in Ukraine, and overall a significant 50.43% of the total aid, i.e. EUR 114.980 million, was granted for crisis response.
The 2023 scoreboard shows in particular the following:
1. State aid expenditure in 2022 ranged between 0.3% and 2.1% of Member States' Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in 2021 it ranged between 0.9% and 4.6%.
2. The decrease in State aid expenditure in 2022 is mainly due to the phasing out of measures introduced to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, in view of the improved health situation in Europe and the gradual lifting of the related restrictive measures. As a result, expenditure on pandemic-related measures decreased by 60.5% compared to 2021.
3. Total state aid approved under the Temporary Crisis Framework 2022, to compensate for the negative effects of the war in Ukraine, amounts to approximately 0.25% of EU GDP
4. In 2022, Member States also reduced their spending on non-crisis related objectives. They spent around EUR 112 million (0.7% of EU GDP), which corresponds to around 49% of total State aid expenditure. Compared to 2021, this represents a decrease of 28% or €43.530 million after adjusting for inflation. This decrease is largely due to the need for State aid related to the crises of the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic.
5. Apart from crisis aid, environmental aid tops the list of other objectives. Environmental protection and energy saving are the objectives on which Member States have spent by far the most in 2022 (EUR 41.510 million, around 37% of State aid expenditure on non-crisis related measures), even though the value of expenditure decreased by 46% compared to 2021 in real terms.
6. The second non-crisis related objective is regional development (EUR 13.910 million, representing more than 12% of State aid expenditure on non-crisis related measures), an increase of 4.8% in 2022.
7. Measures granted under Exemption Regulations continue to increase . In 2022, Member States implemented 1,901 new measures under the General Exemption Regulation (GER) 651/2014, 284 measures under the then existing Exemption Regulation 702/2014 for the agricultural sector and 18 measures under the then existing Exemption Regulation 1388/2014 for fisheries and aquaculture. These measures together account for 84% of the total number of new State aid measures. Excluding the crisis measures, the new measures adopted under the GATS account for 93% of the total number of new non-crisis measures. Expenditure under the measures under the GATS also decreased in 2022 by around 12% compared to 2021.
As an Office we aim and always guide all Competent Authorities and where appropriate recommend the use of the Waivers, once approved at national level by the Supervisor towards the priority areas identified by the European Commission. Although some progress has been made in the use of the Exemptions Regulations by the Competent Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, this progress is not yet sufficient to reach the levels of other Member States.
We aim through continuous information and guidance to all Competent Authorities to achieve the increase in the use of the Exemptions Regulations that we have set as a target for the Office.
The scoreboard is available at the following link.
The scoreboard is available at the following link: https:/competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/document/download/0b2037c5-c43f-4917-b654-f48f74444015_en?filename=state_aid_scoreboard_note_2023.pdf
(ΓΣ/EΑθ)
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