Competition Weekly e-news

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, Belgium's capacity mechanism. The measure will contribute to ensuring the security of electricity supply, in particular in view of Belgium's decision to phase out all nuclear capacity by 2025, without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market. It is the first capacity mechanism approved by the Commission after the entry into force of the new Electricity Regulation.

The European Commission has approved a Greek scheme to support the uncovered fixed costs of companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework and has an estimated budget of up to €500 million.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €5.7 billion French aid scheme to support renewable electricity production from small solar installations located on buildings. The measure will help France achieve its 2030 target of producing 33% of its energy needs from renewable sources and will contribute to the European objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, without unduly distorting competition.

The European Commission has approved a €108 million Danish aid measure to support coronavirus-related research and development (R&D) activities of Bavarian Nordic, a company active in the vaccine development and manufacturing industry. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework.

The European Commission has approved a €1 billion Cypriot scheme to support enterprises and self-employed individuals in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework.

The European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, the introduction of a new product in the the form of guarantees on synthetic securitisation tranches under the European Guarantee Fund managed by the European Investment Bank Group (consisting of the European Investment Bank, “EIB” and the European Investment Fund, “EIF”) to support companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak in the 22 participating Member States. With an envisaged dedicated budget of €1.4 billion, the new product is expected to mobilise at least €13 billion of new lending to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) affected by the outbreak. This is a significant contribution to the overall target for the European Guarantee Fund to mobilise up to €200 billion of additional financing in the 22 participating Member States.

The European Commission has found a €550 million German support measure in favor of Deutsche Bahn AG (“Deutsche Bahn”) to be in line with EU State aid rules. The measure, which will take the form of an equity injection, aims at compensating Deutsche Bahn for damages suffered by its subsidiary DB Fernverkehr due to the coronavirus outbreak between 16 March and 7 June 2020 with respect to domestic travels and between 16 March and 30 June 2020 in relation to international travels.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €430 million Italian measure to compensate ski lift operators for the damages suffered due to the restrictive measures introduced by the Italian government to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which prohibited the access of the general public to ski lifts between 4 December 2020 and 30 April 2021.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, two German schemes supporting the rail freight sector and the long-distance rail passenger sector in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

The European Commission has decided to open an investigation to assess whether Illumina's decision to complete its acquisition of GRAIL, while the Commission's in-depth investigation into the proposed transaction is still ongoing, constitutes a breach of the “standstill obligation” under Article 7 of the Merger Regulation. The standstill obligation prevents the potentially irreparable negative impact of transactions on the market, pending the outcome of the Commission's investigation. This investigation is separate from the Commission's in-depth investigation into the substance of the case which will continue in line with the timelines foreseen in the Merger Regulation.

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of Kustomer by Facebook under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission is concerned that the proposed transaction would reduce competition in the market for the supply of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.