Press Release: State aid: Commission opens in-depth investigation into a Belgian protection scheme for shareholders of financial cooperatives

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether an extension of the Belgian deposit guarantee scheme, aiming at the protection of shares in financial cooperatives such as ARCO, is in line with EU state aid rules.

At this stage, the Commission has concerns that the scheme may enable cooperatives to attract or maintain capital because of the State support. This would confer those cooperatives an advantage over their competitors and distort competition in the internal market. The opening of an in-depth investigation gives interested third parties an opportunity to submit comments on the measures under assessment. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.