Finansowanie zielonych technologii przez pomoc państwa – miedzy prawem do czystego środowiska a ekonomicznym pragmatyzmem
Abstract
The need to counteract the progressing degradation of the natural environment has become one of the European Union’s top priorities. Efforts in this direction are carried out through a set of policies and legislative initiatives under the common label Green Deal. The stated objective is to eliminate emissions caused by the European economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. This requires employing State aid since many necessary green technologies are immature and expensive. This paper presents the relationship between the Treaty’s imperative of promoting a clean environment and the objective of maintaining a competitive European economy. The analysis will seek to verify the hypothesis that the existing standard of assessment of the effect on trade and competition used in State aid cases can potentially lead to abuses whereby Member States can create an unfair advantage to selective undertakings by using environmental justification as carte blanche for funding. This paper presents the relationship between the Treaty’s imperative of promoting a clean environment and the objective of maintaining a competitive European economy. The analysis will seek to verify the hypothesis that the existing standard of assessment of the effect on trade and competition used in State aid cases can potentially lead to abuses whereby Member States can create an unfair advantage to selective undertakings by using environmental justification as carte blanche for funding.
Keywords:
European Union law, state aid, Green Deal, green technologies, competitionReferences
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