The Role of Competition Policy and Competition Enforcers in the EU Response to the Financial Crisis: Applying the State Aid Rules of the TFEU to Bank Bailouts in Order to Limit Distortions of Competition in the Financial Sector

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. DeVito
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Competition Policy ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
State Aid ◽  
The State ◽  
Bank Bailouts ◽  
The Eu

scholarly journals Krise der Finanzmärkte, Krise der Risikoindividualisierung

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (154) ◽  
pp. 141-159
Author(s):  
Beat Weber
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Pension ◽  
Household Debt ◽  
Financial Innovations ◽  
Mortgage Credit ◽  
Current Path ◽  
Recent Financial Crisis

The recent financial crisis is also a crisis of the individualisation of risk. The latter has contributed to the expansion of the financial sector by increasing household debt, mortgage credit and private pension accounts. Financial innovations, intended to transfer risk from the banking to the household sector, have led to an underestimation of risks accumulated in the financial sector. When the crisis broke out, risk which was thought to have been privatised returned to the financial sector, and later on to the state, Initial reform efforts presume that minor modifications of the rules governing the financial sector would allow a continuation of the current path of development, The future distribution of risk within society and the role of the financial sector in managing it are topics which have not been on the agenda in post crisis debates so far.

scholarly journals Competition Law and State Aid for Failing Banks in the EU and its Specific Implications for CEE Member States

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (14) ◽  
pp. 145-157
Author(s):  
Virág Blazsek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Competition Authority ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Bank Bailouts ◽  
The Eu

The bank bailouts following the global financial crisis of 2008 have been subject to prior approval of the European Commission (EC), the competition authority of the European Union. The EC was reluctant to reject rescue efforts directed at failing banks and so it consistently approved all such requests submitted by Member States. Out of the top twenty European banks, the EC authorized State aid to at least twelve entities. In this context, the paper outlines the gradually changing interpretation of EU State aid rules, the “temporary and extraordinary rules” introduced starting from late 2008, and the extension of the “no-State aid” category. The above shifts show that the EC itself deflected from relevant EU laws in order to systemically rescue important banks in Europe and restore their financial stability. The paper argues that bank bailouts and bank rescue packages by the State have led to different effects on market structures and consumer welfare in the Eurozone and non-Eurozone areas, mostly the Eastern segments of the European Union. As such, it is argued that they are inconsistent with the European common market. Although the EC tried to minimize the distortion of competition created as a result of the aforementioned case law primarily through the application of the principle of exceptionality and different compensation measures, these efforts have been at least partially unsuccessful. Massive State aid packages, the preferential treatment of the largest, or systemically important, banks through EU State aid mechanisms – almost none of which are Central and Eastern European (CEE) – may have led to the distortion of competition on the common market. That is so mainly because of the prioritization of the stability of the financial sector and the Euro. The paper argues that State aid for failing banks may have had important positive effects in the short run, such as the promotion of the stability of the banking system and the Euro. In the longrun however, it has contributed to the unprecedented sovereign indebtedness in Europe, and contributed to an increased economic and political instability of the EU, particularly in its most vulnerable CEE segment.

scholarly journals Catch 22: The Privatization of Danish TV 2 vs. EU Rules of State Aid

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (40) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Frands Mortensen
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
State Aid ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sales Process ◽  
Public Broadcaster ◽  
The Will ◽  
Catch 22 ◽  
The Eu

Since 2001, the Danish government has wanted to privatize the public broadcaster TV 2; however, the sales process has been halted. Ap- parently the EU rules on competition block for the will of the majority in the Danish parliament. The presentation explains this paradox by de- scribing the historical development of two processes: the attempt to the privatize TV 2 and the state aid cases against TV 2, which were opened by the Commission and now pending at the Court of First In- stance. The conclusion finds no inconsistency between the govern- ment's wish and the rules on State aid, but TV 2 has unlawfully trans- ferred funding for programming to equity capital, and the Commissi- ons has misinterpreted the conditions for using Article 86(2) in the Treaty in the evaluation of the recapitalization of TV 2. These two processes now obstruct each other.

Transparency Regulation in Financial Markets – Moving into the Surveillance Age?

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-321
Author(s):  
Iris H-Y Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Financial Regulation ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Risk Oversight

In the wake of the global financial crisis, the trajectory of legal reforms is likely to turn towards more transparency regulation. This article argues that transparency regulation will take on a new role of surveillance as intelligence and data mining expand in the wholesale financial sector, supporting the creation of designated systemic risk oversight regulators.The role of market discipline, which has been acknowledged to be weak leading up to the financial crisis, is likely to be eclipsed by a more technocratic governance in the financial sector. In this article, however, concerns are raised about the expansion of technocratic surveillance and whether financial sector participants would internalise the discipline of regulatory control. Certain endemic features of the financial sector will pose challenges for financial regulation even in the surveillance age.

STATE AID IN THE AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY SECTORS AND IN RURAL AREAS IN RESPECT OF THE COMPETITION POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE YEARS 2004-2015

2017 ◽  
Vol XIX (3) ◽  
pp. 250-257
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Rutkiewicz ◽  
Angelika Pruchnicka
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Competition Policy ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Territorial Development ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
The Eu

The aim of the study is to discuss the legal and economic aspects of granting of state aid in the sectors of agriculture, forestry and in rural areas in the light of the EU competition policy in the years 2004-2015. The methods of deduction, descriptive, critical-cognitive and comparative analysis of statistical data (derived from Eurostat database) on the value and structure of state aid for sectoral targets in the EU-28, were used. State aid in the EU is the instrument aimed at achieving the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy, which strengthens the competitiveness and profitability of all agricultural branches, promotes the sustainable forest management and territorial development of rural areas, stimulating the actions in the field of climate and energy efficiency. The greatest beneficiaries of state aid in the agricultural sector in the years 2004- 2015 were: France (16%), Germany (12%), Finland (10%), Italy (9%), Spain (8%), Poland (7%), Great Britain (6%) and Netherlands (5%). In the structure of state aid in the EU-28 Member States, tax exemptions were the predominant use (14%), followed by investments in agricultural holdings (13.6%), support to the livestock sector (8%), animal disease control (6%), agricultural and livestock insurance contributions (5.4%), technical support (5%), forestry support (4.8%), aid for research & development & innovation (4.7%), adverse weather events (4%), public expenditures for environmental protection and compensations for natural disasters and other exceptional occurrences (3.5% each).

Unemployment as a threat to society – an analysis of the situation in Poland and selected countries of the European Union

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-282
Author(s):  
Tomasz Łachacz ◽  
Sylwester Zagulski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
The Eu

Unemployment is classified today as one of the main threats to society. The phenomenon affects the lives of individuals, the functioning of families and society and development of the state. It is often the source of other social problems such as poverty, violence, or social pathologies. The article presents the scale and nature of unemployment occurring after 1989 in Poland and in selected European Union countries, i.e. the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia and Latvia. It attempts to show the characteristic trends of the phenomenon over a period of more than two decades. Examples from the European countries analysed show that the situation in the labour market and the approach to employment are radically different. Individual countries are characterised by very different unemployment rates, which reflect their different size, economic and demographic potential, or are associated with the tradition of employment. The existence of differences seems to be normal, but their scale may give rise to concern. A characteristic feature of unemployment in the period analysed is its regional diversity, both in Poland and in the whole of the European community. Important factors that determine the level of unemployment are age, sex, education and people’s qualifications. The effects of long-term unemployment are very painful for the whole of society. Such a situation can lead to, amongst others, poverty, societal antagonism, violence and migration. The latter is an issue that the whole of Europe is currently struggling with. The uncontrolled influx of immigrants, including those migrating for economic reasons, causes fear of losing their job among Europeans, which in turn translates into the radicalisation of society. A role of the state and the EU institutions is to create an effective mechanism for the protection and support of the unemployed. This is a prerequisite for Europeans to continue the project which is a common united Europe.

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