Vestager refuses to pause state aid rules

Vestager refuses to pause state aid rules

May 1, 2020, Global Competition Review

Johan Ysewyn spoke with Global Competition Review about EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s request to suspend European state aid rules during the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Ysewyn says there was a similar “knee-jerk reaction during the financial crisis in 2008 from member states,” but the idea was quickly discarded. As in the financial crisis, the commission has a key role to play, to avoid member states “going overboard and throwing bad money after bad money.”