• Preparation of (pre-) notification / complaint forms and related documentation
• Engaging in discussions and negotiating with relevant stakeholders (e.g. national authorities and companies) to refine the understanding of issues at stake and agree on way forward
• Representation before the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority
• Significant expertise on aid measures for environmental/energy, aid for Important Projects of Common European Interest, R&D&I aid, Services of General Economic Interest, rescue and restructuring, regional, infrastructure, privatization aid measures, tax planning practices etc.
• Providing legal and policy analysis, advice and assistance on proposed reform and investment initiatives of RRP, which aim at ensuring economic resilience of Member States and more possibilities for recovery and national prosperity, by delivering on the policy objectives of (indicative examples):
  • the green transition (e.g. sustainable power generation, storage systems to enhance RES penetration, clean vehicles and charging infrastructure network, sustainable urban environment etc.)
  • the digital transformation (e.g. transforming State information technology governance, digital radio, data infrastructure and services, 5G corridors, submarine fibre cables etc.)
  • the health resilience (e.g. digitalisation of processes, increase of R&D in life science industry, reduction of pharmaceutical expenses, AI in healthcare provision etc.)
  • the innovation and science (e.g. innovation fund for start-ups, development of environmentally friendly technologies, promoting participation in R&D clusters, competitiveness of education etc.)
  • the favourable business environment for job creation (e.g. digital transformation of labour systems, restructuring of public employment services, e-services to unemployed and companies etc.).

• Providing advice on the design of large cross border integrated IPCEIs
• Assisting on the drafting of the Chapeau document in close cooperation with Member States and companies
• Engaging in discussions with Member States and companies to refine the understanding of issues at stake and providing advice and assistance on the redesign of public measures, thereby ensuring their compliance with the State aid rules on IPCEIs
• Undertaking a complex legal and economic assessment of company project portfolios
• Detailed and complex assessment of the innovative elements of the R&D carried out under the IPCEIs
• Analysis and assessment of the ‘do no significant harm’ principle and its impact on the implementation of national measures
• Analysis and assessment of specific market failures, thereby verifying the reason of State intervention

• Identification of activity subject to State aid rules (e.g. Is it economic in nature? Is GBER applicable? Is it considered a service of general economic interest?)
• Assessment of all of the eligibility criteria and compatibility conditions
• Advice on the definition of SMEs and de minimis thresholds

• Privatization measures and lack of economic advantage (market economy operator test, pari passu conditions, benchmarking analysis), or actions of the State as a regulator of public policy objectives
• Infrastructure measures: no economic activity, no effect on trade or distortion of competition, no economic advantage
• Research organizations and infrastructures: concept of ancillarity
• Concept of Services of General Economic Interest and application of the Altmark criteria   

• Enforcement of State aid rules in national proceedings (e.g. concept of State aid or the applicability of the General Block Exemption Regulations etc.).
• Implementation of recovery decisions and complaints for granting illegal State aid in national proceedings
• Actions before the General Court challenging Commission decisions

Legal approximation

Training