Control of State aid to financial institutions in the EU: in need of a fitness check

Summary:

Our audit found that, for the period from August 2013 to the end of 2018, the Commission had appropriate resources and tools including an appropriate organisational set-up to carry out its control of State aid financial institutions. However, it had not always been in a position to use them to full effect.

The Commission’s performance indicators did not fully capture its performance. We observed that market realities improved during the audited period and up to the outbreak of COVID-19 and that the regulatory framework had changed, but that the applicable State aid rules themselves have not been modified since 2013.

In addition, we found that the effectiveness of the Commission’s State aid control may have occasionally suffered from the fact that the Commission did not contest Member States’ submissions that the conditions for an exceptional approval of State aid existed in each individual case.

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