EN EN EN COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Brussels, 7.12.2009 SEC (2009) 1638 COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION State Aid Scoreboard - Autumn 2009 Update - Facts and figures on State aid in the EU Member States {COM(2009) 661 final} EN EN Table of contents INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 4 State aid in the context of the economic crisis ........................................................................... 4 Scope and content....................................................................................................................... 5 State aid as defined under Article 87 of the EC Treaty.............................................................. 6 Revised format of the State aid autumn Scoreboard.................................................................. 6 1. State aid in 2008 in absolute and relative terms........................................................... 7 1.1. Total State aid and State aid per sector as % of GDP .................................................. 7 1.2. Impact of crisis measures on total State aid................................................................. 8 1.3. Total State aid and State aid per sector as % of GDP (crisis measures excluded)....... 9 1.4. Broad sectoral distribution of aid (with and without crisis measures)....................... 12 2. Trends and patterns of state aid expenditure in the Member States........................... 13 2.1. Levels of State aid to industry and services............................................................... 13 2.2. State aid for horizontal objectives of common interest.............................................. 16 2.2.1. Horizontal versus sectoral aid in 2008....................................................................... 16 2.2.2. State aid to horizontal objectives ............................................................................... 17 2.2.3. Trend in State aid for horizontal objectives and sectoral objectives.......................... 21 2.2.4. State aid for research and development and innovation............................................. 22 2.2.5. State aid for SMEs including risk capital................................................................... 24 2.2.6. State aid for environmental protection....................................................................... 24 2.2.7. State aid supporting regional development and cohesion.......................................... 25 2.3. State aid earmarked for specific sectors..................................................................... 27 2.3.1. State aid for rescue and restructuring firms in difficulty ........................................... 27 2.3.2. State aid to the shipbuilding sector ............................................................................ 27 2.3.3. State aid to the steel sector......................................................................................... 27 2.3.4. State aid to the coal sector.......................................................................................... 28 2.3.5. State aid to the transport sector .................................................................................. 28 2.3.6. State aid to the agricultural sector.............................................................................. 30 2.3.7. State aid to the fisheries sector................................................................................... 31 2.4. State aid instruments .................................................................................................. 32 2.4.1. State aid instruments and aid volumes in 2008.......................................................... 32 2.4.2. Trend in the use of aid instruments (crisis measures excluded)................................. 34 3. State aid in the context of the financial and economic crisis ..................................... 35 3.1. General economic background................................................................................... 35 3.2. Chronology of the crisis and the Commission's response.......................................... 36 EN 2 EN 3.3. Measures approved, take-up and review.................................................................... 41 3.4. State aid granted in 2008............................................................................................ 44 3.5. Measures adopted under the Temporary Framework................................................. 47 3.6. Special reference to the car sector.............................................................................. 48 3.7. Special reference to the air transport sector ............................................................... 49 4. Simplification of the State aid rules........................................................................... 49 4.1. A new architecture for State aid control .................................................................... 49 4.2. Types of aid measures used by Member States ......................................................... 51 5. Enforcement the state aid rules .................................................................................. 54 5.1. Unlawful aid............................................................................................................... 54 5.2. Recovery of unlawful aid........................................................................................... 54 5.3. Enforcement of State aid Law: Cooperation with national courts ............................. 56 5.4. Ex-post monitoring..................................................................................................... 57 Methodological Notes .............................................................................................................. 58 Annex: Statistical tables........................................................................................................... 60 Table 1-1: Key figures and trend on State aid as percentage of GDP and share of horizontal objectives as percentage of total aid for industry and services and their trend (all cases; 2008)................................................................................................................ 60 Table 1-2: Key figures and trend on State aid as percentage of GDP and share of horizontal objectives as percentage of total aid for industry and services and their trend (excl. crisis measures) .......................................................................................................... 61 Table 1-3: State aid for primary objectives and sectoral aid as % of total aid (crisis measures excluded); 2008.......................................................................................... 62 Table 1-4: Trend in share of primary objectives in total aid between 2003-2005 and 2006- 2008 as percentage point difference (crisis measures excluded) ............................... 63 Table 2: Main set of rules adopted since the launch of the SAAP in 2005.............................. 64 Table 3-1: Overview of measures reviewed by the Commission under the Temporary Framework until 9 November 2009 ........................................................................... 67 Table 4-1: Trend in the number of recovery decisions and amounts to be recovered (1) 2000- 2009 (by 30 June 2009).............................................................................................. 70 Table 4-2: Recovery in the fisheries sector.............................................................................. 70 Table 4-3: Pending recovery decisions (by 30 June 2009) ...................................................... 71 Table 4-4: Pending recovery cases where the Commission has decided to bring the case before the Court of Justice and where illegal and incompatible aid has not yet been recovered (30 June 2009)........................................................................................... 74 Table 5: Summary of rules for the transport sector.................................................................. 77 EN 3 EN INTRODUCTION State aid in the context of the economic crisis Over the past decade, the EU experienced steady economic growth whereby GDP increased on average by roughly 1.5% per annum. Between 2002 and 2007, the level of State aid, expressed as a percentage of GDP, decreased on average by around 2% per year and stood at less than 0.5% in 2007. During this period, Member States continued their effort to reduce budget deficits which reached lower levels than the beginning of the millennium. The rate of unemployment fell in line with the economic trend though with some delay and stood at approximately 7% EU-wide in 2008. The financial crisis has caused an abrupt end to GDP growth, low levels of State aid expenditure and decreasing budget deficits. Unemployment is expected to rise in the coming years up to 10%. Economic activity contracted in the second half of 2008. This has led to a fall of GDP by approximately 1.4%. It is expected to decline further (by almost 4%) for the entire year 2009 and to stabilise in 2010 with small growth expected to be 0.75% and 1.5% in 2011. Budget deficits have increased substantially, returning to levels reached at the beginning of the decade, with significant variations between Member States however. As can be expected, State aid expenditure has also risen since most Member States have given support