Press Release: State aid: latest Scoreboard reveals continuing shift towards horizontal objectives

The total amount of state aid granted in 2005 by the twenty-five Member States was estimated at €64 billion (0.59% of EU GDP), according to the latest State Aid Scoreboard compiled by the European Commission, compared with some €65 billion in 2004 (0.61% of EU GDP) in 2004. EU-wide, the response to the European Council’s call for less state aid has therefore been moderate. However, Member States have reacted positively to the second Council objective of “better targeted aid”: more than half of the Member States have now redirected over 90% of their state aid towards horizontal objectives of common interest, such as environment and R&D. The in-depth analysis of rescue and restructuring aid shows that this type of aid, which is potentially most prone to distort competition, amounts to €15.5 billion for the period 2000-2005 in the EU-15 Member States. While some Member States have frequently awarded such aid during the period under review, the majority have clearly not done so. More than 95% of the total aid amount was granted by the five largest Member States (Germany, France, Italy, UK and Spain).