What are the main changes that are being proposed by the Commission?
The Commission proposes changes to most of the current rules governing state aid policy and procedures. Regular updates have in any event to be made to state aid rules, to adapt them to evolving institutional, economic and legal developments. But instead of dealing with each area separately, the State Aid Action Plan proposes a comprehensive and consistent reform whereby the same general principles are applied in all instruments. The objective is to make state aid policy clearer, simpler and easier to understand. One important element of the document is therefore to communicate the guiding principles of the reform.The reforms intend to provide Member states with a clear, comprehensive and predictable set of rules which will allow them to support initiatives contributing to the Union’s cohesion and competitiveness. The objective of less and better targeted aid will be pursued in all state aid fields. This is linked to a refined economic approach, which tries to focus state aid to areas
