76 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM this project296. It remains to be seen whether this instrument can also be used for overarching and ambitious initiatives in the tourism sector to foster sustainable and environmentally friendly growth and innovation in the tourism sector. More recently, state aid was suddenly pushed to the forefront of the Commission’s priorities by the COVID-19 outbreak. With the adoption on 19 March 2020 of the State Aid Temporary Framework297, amended on 3 April 2020 and again on 9 May 2020, the Commission listed a total of ten temporary forms of state aid that Member States may fall back on, alongside the possibility of adopting recapitalisation measures and/or aid in the form of subordinated debt. The Temporary Framework allows, in particular, for aid: (i) in the form of direct grants, repayable advances; (ii) in the form of guarantees on loans; (iii) in the form of subsidised interest rates for loans; (iv) in the form of guarantees and loans channelled through credit institutions or other financial institutions; (v) short-term export credit insurance; (vi) for COVID-19 R&D; (vii) for the construction or upgrade of testing facilities for products relevant to tackle the pandemic; (viii) aid for the production of COVID-19 relevant products; (ix) aid in the form of deferral of tax payments and/or suspension of employers’ social security contributions; and (x) aid in the form of wage subsidies to avoid lay-offs in sectors hit by the virus outbreak. The State Aid Temporary Framework is based on Article 107(3)(b) TFEU, which allows aid to “remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a member state”. Member States may also apply for aid under Article 107(2)(b) TFEU (aid for damage caused by “exceptional occurrences” such as COVID-19) for more targeted interventions. However most Member States favoured having recourse to the State Aid Temporary Framework instead of Article 107(2)(b) TFEU to avoid having to quantify the exact damage suffered by the sector and to receive support as promptly as possible without administrative hurdles. Nevertheless, both Denmark and France used Article 107(2)(b) TFEU to provide support to 296 EC Press Release of 9 December 2019, State aid: Commission approves €3.2 billion public support by seven Member States for a pan-European research and innovation project in all segments of the battery value chain, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_19_6705. 297 Communication from the Commission – Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak, 19.03.2020, C(2020) 1863 final, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/ competition/state_aid/what_is_new/sa_covid19_temporary-framework.pdf.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==