Since 2008 there has been
one word which has been
repeated over and over in
each language across the world:
“financial crisis”.
What happened in the last two
years? It seems that nobody knows:
it has been a contemporary
hurricane. It made no difference if
we talked about the well-respected
European-automotive company, a
billion-euro London-based
financial institution or even
sovereign states; they all needed
help. Just as in the 1850s when the
railway industry in Arkansas
received state aid, severalMember
States had to go into rescue
business again. Over and over
Member States gave (sometimes
twice) billions in cash injections to
several conglomerates to stimulate
the European market and avoid
(even more) insolvencies. Opel,
Alitalia, RBS, ING, Lloyds, UBS,
Commerzbank, Volvo,
Volkswagen, HSH Norbank,
Northern Rock, Hypo Real Estate.
All these respected companies of
Europe (and many more) have
sought and received state aid.
For providing state aid a
Member State has to obtain
approval from the European
Commission, to be in accordance
with the competition laws and the
main principles of the European
Union (“DeMinimis” rule).
In 2007 the state aid granted
byMember States was €67.4
billion. In 2008 the amount of
state aid added up to the incredible
amount of €279.6 billion,
representing 2.2% of GDP of the
European Union.1
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