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ECOS-V-051 |
105th plenary session, 30-31 January 2014 |
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EN
REVISED OPINION
EU
guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in
difficulty
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
welcomes the fact that the European Commission launched a consultation on the review of the guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty, which was open to all stakeholders and sets out a number of options; welcomes that the European Commission rejects the idea of limiting the meaning of firms in difficulty to firms that are in formal insolvency proceedings and that it is putting more focus on behavioural measures such as bans on expenditure for expansion and acquisition and on advertising and the payment of dividends; welcomes the stepping up of requirements regarding transparency by obliging Member States to publish on-line all of the relevant information on aid granted as well as the clarification regarding the interaction between the mechanism for state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty and state aid for services of general economic interest (SGEIs); reiterates its conviction that the process of modernising the state aid mechanism should focus on prohibiting aid likely to have a real and notable impact on the internal market and should reduce the bureaucratic burden for the actors concerned; welcomes the confirmation that the Commission has abandoned the goal of a quantitative, undifferentiated reduction in state aid; endorses the Commission's proposed non-exhaustive list of situations of social hardship or market failure that justify aid as being in the public interest, including an unemployment rate in the region concerned that is higher than the EU average or the national average and the risk of interruption to the continuity of provision of an SGEI.
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Rapporteur
Mr Rouillon (FR/PES), Mayor of Coulaines
Reference document
Communication from the Commission on the Guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty (5 November 2013) |
Opinion of the Committee of the Regions –
EU
guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in
difficulty
I. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,
General comments
Brussels, 30 January 2014
The president |
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The secretary-general |
II. PROCEDURE
Title
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EU guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty |
References |
Communication from the Commission – Guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty |
Legal basis |
Article 307(4) TFEU Articles 107 and 108 TFEU |
Procedural basis |
Revised opinion |
Date of Commission letter |
Letter from the Commissioner, Mr Almunia, of 7 November 2013 |
Date of president's decision |
27 November 2013 |
Commission responsible |
Commission for Economic and Social Policy (ECOS) |
Rapporteur |
Mr Christophe Rouillon (FR/PES), Mayor of Coulaines |
Analysis |
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Discussion in commission |
11 December 2013 |
Date adopted by commission |
11 December 2013 |
Result of the vote in commission |
Majority |
Date adopted in plenary |
30 January 2014 |
Previous Committee opinions |
Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 11 April 2013 on EU guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (Mr Rouillon (FR/PES), CDR240-2013_AC) Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 1 February 2013 on The regional state aid guidelines for 2014-2020 (rapporteur: Mr Denanot (FR/PES), CdR2232-2012_AC) Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 29 November 2012 on EU State Aid Modernisation (SAM) (rapporteur: Mr Lindemann (DE/PES), CdR 1528/2012) Revised opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 11 October 2011 on EU State aid rules on services of general economic interest (rapporteur: Mr Lambertz (BE/PES), CdR 278/2011 fin) Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 1 July 2011 on the Reform of the EU State aid rules on services of general economic interest (rapporteur: Mr Lambertz (BE/PES), CdR 150/2011 fin)3 |
Date of subsidiarity monitoring consultation |
N.A. |
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1Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 11 April 2013 on EU guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (CDR240-2013_AC).
2Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Action plan for a competitive and sustainable steel industry in Europe, COM(2013) 407.
COR-2013-07451-00-00-AC-TRA …/…
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