Rethinking EU State Aid Control in a MULTI-LEVEL Environment

EU State aid control, an instance of centralized administrative procedure, is typically pictured as based on a hierarchical relation between the European Commission, acting as rule enforcer, and the Member States, operating as mere rule implementers. But does this image suffice to appreciate how EU State aid law is applied in practice after the State aid modernization initiative has been fully implemented? This paper seeks to challenge this classic bi-centric and pyramidal view by exploring the implications of understanding EU State aid control as involving a number of governance tools and actors that, at different levels, ensure proper application of the Treaties’ provisions. To this purpose, it focuses on the domestic institutions and procedures that guarantee that regional entities with legislative powers comply with EU State aid rules. This ‘realist perspective’ is in line with the current changes the EU Commission is making to ensure the sustainable control of public spending even in the era of modernisation of the sector.

The paper contributes to clarify that a governance structure made of a number of interconnected administrative networks is vital to secure that the legal requirements of EU State aid law are met in practice by sub-national entities. The repercussion of this empirical insight leads the paper to argue that, to pursue the aim of the consistent application of EU State aid law across Member States, a renewed attention to accountability structures is needed.