The Official Journal of the European Union of July 31, 2014, published the European Commission Guidelines establishing the conditions under which state aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty can be considered compatible with the domestic market. The Commission has been applying these Guidelines since August

On 15 April 2014 the European Parliament voted in favour of the European Commission initiative for a Regulation establishing a European Account Preservation Order (EAPO) to simplify EU cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters. This legislation aims to establish a procedure whereby the courts of EU member states can issue orders preserving or “freezing” bank accounts across the EU without the need for any intervention by the courts of any other member state.

A lingering misperception among American businesspersons and some commercial lawyers is that it is a fool’s errand to commence an insolvency case seeking reorganization in a European nation because those national laws prescribe liquidation rather than rehabilitation. These business leaders often dismiss out-of-hand insolvency relief on the continent for a troubled European subsidiary and elect to wind up the company’s affairs outside the judicial system.

The European Commission recently published a recommendation addressed to Member States on a new approach to rescuing businesses and offering a second chance to honest entrepreneurs. It aims to ensure that viable businesses experiencing financial difficulti es have access to restructuring mechanisms at an early stage to prevent insolvency and maximise overall value for creditors, employees and owners. It also proposes a second chance for honest entrepreneurs involved in insolvency proceedings.

The financial crisis has made it clear that some EU Member States grant state aid more readily than others. Sarkozy has put millions of Euros towards the Peugeot rescue effort; Berlusconi has helped to ensure that Alitalia remains in Italian hands.

In Europe each year there are an estimated 200,000 corporate insolvencies. More than half of the companies set up do not survive their first five years of trading and more than 1.7 million jobs are lost every year as a result. One in five of those companies will have international operations that cross national borders.

The European Union (EU) has sought to introduce an element of harmonization across its Member States, to facilitate the effective operation of cross-border insolvencies.

We take a look at the reforms to the EC Insolvency Regulation in light of the European Parliament’s 4 February vote on the committee of legal affairs’ report on the proposed reforms.

The background

En décembre 2013, Chypre a notifié à la Commission européenne une aide de 102,9 millions EUR pour la restructuration de la compagnie aérienne nationale Cyprus Airways. Le plan de restructuration vise à rétablir la situation financière de l’entreprise qui rencontre des difficultés depuis de nombreuses années.

On 5 November 2013, the European Commission launched a consultation on its proposed new guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (“the draft R&R guidelines”) which will replace the current R&R guidelines adopted in 2004. The revision of the 2004 guidelines was postponed a number of times as a result of the financial crisis, during which the Commission applied a special R&R regime for the financial sector. At the time, the Commission was still considering adopting new R&R rules applicable to both the financial sector and the real economy.

European Commission Work Programme