Press Release: State aid: Commission authorises temporary Belgian scheme allowing subsidised state guarantees to boost real economy

The European Commission authorised under EC Treaty rules on state aid a Belgian scheme aimed at providing relief to companies in Flanders encountering financing difficulties as a result of the credit squeeze in the current economic crisis. The scheme, put in place by the Flemish Ministry of Economic Affairs, provides aid in the form of subsidised guarantees for investment and working capital loans concluded by 31 December 2010. The scheme meets the conditions of the Commission’s Temporary Framework for state aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis, as amended on 25 February 2009, because it is appropriate to remedy a serious disturbance in the entire Belgian economy, is limited in time, respects the relevant thresholds and applies only to companies that were not in difficulty on 1 July 2008. It is therefore compatible with Article 87(3)(b) of the EC.