17 March 2022
The European Commission has launched today a public consultation to gather views on the State aid rules for banks in difficulty from all parties who have an interest in the matter, such as individuals or groups, academia and research institutions. The Commission has also launched a targeted consultation to seek feedback in particular from financial institutions and Member States’ authorities.
In parallel, the Commission has published a Call for Evidence seeking feedback on the main aims of the evaluation, its scope and context. The State aid rules for banks in difficulty were initially designed to address the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on banks and to avoid knock-on effects from bank failures on the financial sector and the EU economy as a whole. They aim at preserving financial stability in the single market, while ensuring a level playing field by limiting competition distortions.
Following the overhaul of the regulatory framework for banks, in particular the adoption of a new set of EU rules on bank crisis management in 2014, as well as the evolution of the market conditions over the past years, the evaluation of the State aid rules for banks in difficulty is now necessary. The Commission will evaluate whether the State aid rules for banks in difficulty achieved their objectives and if they are still fit for purpose. In this context, a study will be commissioned to an external contractor, who will collect and assess in-depth sector-specific data. The evaluation will also draw on the experience gathered by the Commission when enforcing the State aid rules in this area.
All parties, who have an interest in the matter, can submit their views and respond to the questionnaires in any official EU language on the Commission’s Have your say portal and on DG-Competition’s consultations webpage until 9 June 2022. The Commission will use this feedback in its evaluation of the State aid rules for banks in difficulty, and aims at publishing the results of this evaluation in the second half of 2023.