State aid crisis rules for the financial sector and the real economy

The financial crisis has given rise to substantial government support in the form of State aid, primarily to the financial sector. To facilitate that this support was given in accordance with EU State aid rules, the European Commission adopted a special framework for crisis State aid in the form of five communications forming its own basis for assessing Member State action. In this context, the study addresses three basic questions : - Has the temporary framework for State aid and the actual use of State aid during the crisis been effective in terms of providing stability to the economy? - Has it been done in an efficient manner and with the least costs to the functioning of the internal market? - What lessons have been learned that can help improve the design of EU’s State aid rules?