EU COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY IN THE TOURISM SECTOR 75 already been condemned for failure to recover it in 2012, a matter the Court of Justice has yet to rule on293. As this overview demonstrates, tourism-related services are frequently the recipients of public assistance, and the rules applicable to them can be very complex, depending on which sub-sector and/or region they belong to. In the broader context, the state aid rules, traditionally used to prevent allocation of national funds in favour local (versus other European) enterprises, face scrutiny from the global competitiveness point of view. Besides, green and sustainable development294 is becoming a greater priority, poised to affect the application of state aid provisions in the future. 7.3. Outlook In 2012, the Commission launched a general overhaul of its State aid instruments (State Aid Modernisation or SAM) in order to make State aid and State aid control more effective, more coherent and more integrated so that it could support the overall agenda of growth and competitiveness. The SAM initiative includes new guidelines on state aid for broadband, regional development, cinema, airports and airlines, risk finance, energy and environment, as well as R&D and innovation, all of which are potentially relevant for the tourism sector. The Commission also adopted a Communication on Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs), aiming to encourage the Member States to channel their public spending to large projects that make a clear contribution to economic growth, jobs and the competitiveness of Europe. The IPCEI Communication, which now applies to all sectors of the economy295, is based on Article 107(3)(b) TFEU, which allows the Member States to grant aid to promote the execution of an important project of common European interest. Most recently, the European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an IPCEI, jointly notified by Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden, to support research and innovation in the common European priority area of batteries, providing 3.2 billion euros in funding for 293 Case C-576/18, Action brought on 12 September 2018 – European Commission v Italian Republic, OJ C 399, 05.11.2018, pp. 24-25. 294 “The industrial strategy must be for everyone; it must be green and it must be based on fair competition” – vowed Margrethe Vestager during her confirmation hearing on 08.10.2019; see: https://www.mlex.com/ GlobalAntitrust/DetailView.aspx?ppo=23&ppo=23&cid=1134003&siteid=190. 295 Communication from the Commission – Criteria for the analysis of the compatibility with the internal market of State aid to promote the execution of important projects of common European interest, OJ C 188, 20.06.2014, pp. 4-12.
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