State aids and Beyond

The paper deals with the state aid measures adopted in the aftermath of the pandemic. The essay’s approach aims to highlight the lights and shadows of the discipline. These rules have been seen as a possible new frontier of the state aid framework: in reality, from a substantive point of view, there are no significant changes in the use of the application criteria. More than anything else, the measures are designed as a remedy for the exceptional situation, even if there may be hints of a project for the construction of an orientation mission that “suggests” a political line on certain areas of intervention. The suspension of the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact has favoured this process even if the differences between the budgets of the member states have obviously left the situation of the economies of the individual states unchanged. The authorization criteria are analysed, also by comparing their application in the context of the 2007 crisis. Ultimately, a new configuration of state aid does not appear to emerge from the temporary framework, nor does the Commission’s discretion appear to have diminished