Press Release: State aid: Commission orders Belgium to recover incompatible state aid from financial cooperative ARCO

Following an in-depth investigation, the European Commission concluded on the 3 July 2014 that a Belgian guarantee scheme for shareholders of financial cooperatives was incompatible with EU state aid rules. In particular, the guarantee conferred a selective advantage to the Belgian financial cooperative ARCO, the only beneficiary of the scheme, who now has to pay back the undue advantage it received.

In November 2011, Belgium notified a scheme aimed at protecting from losses shares held by individual shareholders in recognised financial cooperatives. The measure had already been put in place, in breach of the obligation for Member States to get prior Commission approval for new state aid measures. It appeared that ARCO was the only financial cooperative that had made use of the scheme. In April 2012, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation.

ESO: Background information: State aid: Commission opens in-depth investigation into a Belgian protection scheme for shareholders of financial cooperatives http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-state-aid-commission-opens-in-depth-investigation-into-a-belgian-protection-scheme-for-shareholders-of-financial-cooperatives/

De Morgen, 04.07.14: Honest Belgian citizens victims of speculators (via Euro|Topics) http://www.eurotopics.net/en/home/presseschau/archiv/aehnliche/archiv_article/ARTICLE146260-Honest-Belgian-citizens-victims-of-speculators

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