The effectiveness of state aid measures for entrepreneurs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
Anna Dobaczewska
Uniwersytet GdańskiAbstract
Rules on granting, using and monitoring state aid can be primarily disclosed from the European Law. The analysis of the Treaty on the functioning
of the European Union provisions, secondary law and EU guidelines show the
most effective and suitable means of state aid, both during the COVID-19
pandemic and afterwards. In the year 2020–2021 application of the EC guidelines seemed helpful, as well as using those forms of aid that have been proclaimed compatible with the internal market under art. 107–108 TFEU. As of
the year 2021, it is required to adjust state aid measures to the priorities
mentioned in the Multiannual Financial Framework, EU policies for 2021–2027,
including Digital Agenda and European Green Deal.
The aim of the article is to present basic aspects of state aid application,
due to the EC Guidelines issued in March 2020 (as amended), implementing
legal acts coping with the economic crisis revealed from the pandemic. The
adopted research method is therefore limited to a dogmatic and legal analysis.
The provisions of the TFEU, EU regulations and soft law documents enabling
the use of permitted and admissible aid were considered.
The legal solutions implemented by the Member States during the pandemic were taking advantage of the general block exemptions issued for the
period 2014–2020 and 2022–2027. The European Commission supports the administration of the Member States in its efforts to create national recovery
plans according to the requirements of the Recovery and Resilience Fund. For
Poland, the possibility togrant state aid tominimizethe negative economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, are consideredscarce. It is due to the
rule that the financial means may be paid out of the EU budget and in the
NextGenerationEU Facility only if the general rule of democracy and rule of
law are respected. Public administration authorities may therefore face the
problem of not having sufficient budgetary means to grant state aid to entrepreneurs in economic difficulties, having in mind that at the same time the
social expenditures of the public budgets have considerably risen.
Keywords:
COVID-19, state aid, rule of law, Multiannual Financial Framework, Recovery and Resilience FundReferences
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