Recovery of State Aid in Corporate Groups and Post-Transfer

The author submits two considerations that may be relevant for State aid recovery. First, aid, regardless of its form, can be modelled as a cash subsidy and hence the anticompetitive advantage is where the money is. Second, State aid law may draw a lesson from the doctrine of economic unity. Based on these notions, the author argues that in case of aid granted to a fully-owned subsidiary, the beneficiary is the entire group and hence, aid may be recovered from the parent company. Similarly, if subsidised assets or a subsidised subsidiary are sold for market value in an arm’s length transaction, the benefit remains with the selling undertaking and should be recovered there. The author subm...