The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, capital injections worth €813 million and €15 million per year in corporate income tax and dividend payment exemptions in favour of Lithuanian development bank Investicijos į Lietuvos ekonomiką ('ILTE'). The measures are provided by the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance.
The European Commission has adopted a temporary State aid framework to enable Member States to support the EU economy in the context of the Middle East crisis. The Middle East crisis Temporary State aid Framework (METSAF) is a targeted and temporary framework to address the effects of the crisis on some of the most exposed sectors of the economy: agriculture, fishery, transport and energy-intensive industries. The METSAF will be in place until 31 December 2026. During its period of application, the Commission will keep the content, scope and duration of the Framework under review in the light of developments in the Middle East and in the general economic situation.
See also Remarks by Executive Vice-President Ribera at the press conference on the METSAF.
DG Competition will hold on a “Reality Check” to identify good practices on the activities of National Promotional Banks and potential bottlenecks caused by State aid rules.
The Reality Check meeting will take place on Tuesday, 28 April 2026. The representatives from Member States’ national promotional banks, international financial institutions implementing InvestEU and relevant EU associations are invited.
The Commission takes note of the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the scope of 2014 Fisheries de minimis Regulation.
In its judgment, in line with the Commission’s position, the Court clarified that the definition of ‘processing and marketing’ in Article 2(1)(c) of the 2014 Fisheries de minimis Regulation includes the activity of retail of fishery products.
The referring court is called to apply that finding in the context of a national proceeding between Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC, the appellant, and the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy), the respondent.
The Commission takes note of today’s judgment, in which the Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of our 2020 decision approving the recapitalisation of Lufthansa in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.
We are currently analysing the judgment. This means it is too preliminary to say anything about what will happen now.
The Commission will continue the in-depth investigation into the recapitalisation measure opened in 2024, following the annulment by the General Court. We cannot prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €411 million capital injection by Croatia's government into the national development bank Hrvatska Banka za Obnovu i Razvitak ('HBOR'). The measure will be funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility ('RRF') and will expand HBOR's remit to support Croatia's sustainable economic growth and competitiveness.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether public support that Romania plans to grant for the refurbishment and lifetime extension of Unit 1 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant is in line with EU State aid rules.
The European Commission has approved State aid schemes to provide temporary electricity price relief for energy-intensive companies in Bulgaria, Germany and Slovenia in line with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal. Through the condition to reinvest a significant share of the aid received in decarbonisation measures, these schemes will contribute to the transition towards a net-zero economy. The schemes were approved under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) adopted by the Commission on 25 June 2025.
The European Commission has approved a €3.7 billion Czech scheme to support the construction of biomethane production stations in line with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal. This measure will contribute to the transition towards a net-zero economy. The scheme was approved under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) adopted by the Commission on 25 June 2025.
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €1.3 billion German scheme to support landowners and land managers of drained peatlands that commit to rewet their land. The scheme aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing carbon storage in peatlands.
The European Commission is gathering the views of Member States on a draft proposal for a State aid Temporary Crisis Framework to support the EU economy in the context of the Middle East crisis, as announced on 13 April 2026 by President Ursula von der Leyen. The draft proposal is based on Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which allows aid to develop specific economic sectors also in view of specific unexpected economic risks.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether public support that France plans to grant for the construction and operation of six new nuclear reactors is in line with EU State aid rules.
The opening of an in-depth State aid investigation is a common step when complex aid packages are involved, such as in the case at hand. It will give France and interested third parties the opportunity to submit comments. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €6 billion Italian scheme to support the production of renewable hydrogen for the transport and industrial sectors. The scheme will contribute to the development of renewable hydrogen production capacity in line with the objectives of the EU Hydrogen Strategy and the Clean Industrial Deal.
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €144 million French measure to support HyforSeeds to produce renewable and low-carbon hydrogen for the fertiliser sector. The measure will contribute to achieving the targets of the EU Hydrogen Strategy and the Renewable Energy Directive for the use of hydrogen in industry.
The European Commission has approved a €500 million Luxembourgish scheme to support strategic investments that add clean technology (cleantech) manufacturing capacity, in line with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal. This measure will contribute to the transition towards a net-zero economy. The scheme was approved under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) adopted by the Commission on 25 June 2025.
The European Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the Court of Justice, in which the Court of Justice considers that the contested Decree of 23 June 2023 does not constitute an aid scheme nor an individual aid measure that should be notified to the Commission.
The European Commission has approved a €5 billion (DKK 37.6 billion) Danish scheme to support offshore wind energy in line with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal. This measure will contribute to the transition towards a net-zero economy and reaching the 2030 renewable energy target set at EU level. The scheme was approved under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) adopted by the Commission on 25 June 2025.
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a French scheme to support the production of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen in line with the objectives of the EU Hydrogen Strategy and the Clean Industrial Deal. The scheme will also contribute to the objectives of the REPowerEU Plan to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the clean transition.
The Commission takes note of the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In its judgment, the Court clarified the definition of undertaking and the concept of links through natural persons, within the meaning of Annex I to the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).
In particular, the Court clarified that it is insufficient for a natural person to hold a controlling quantity of shares in an undertaking in order to conclude that such natural person is an undertaking. To this end, the natural person must exercise effective control, by participating directly or indirectly in the management of the company. In addition, the Court confirmed that Article 3(3), fourth paragraph, of Annex I to the GBER applies to natural persons which are not undertakings based on the application of the notion of “linked enterprises”.
Current State aid rules for banks in difficulty, last updated in 2013, enable State aid to banks in difficulty to ensure financial stability while minimising distortions of competition. The revision of the State aid rules for banks in difficulty is undertaken with the view to bring consistency with the EU resolution (Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance) framework legislation and to bring simplification by replacing the six existing Communications into a single one.
