Competition Weekly e-news

The European Commission has approved a €300 million French scheme to support companies investing in the use of solid recovered fuels  to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy, in line with the Green Deal Industrial Plan. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, adopted by the Commission on 9 March 2023 to support measures in sectors which are key to accelerate the green transition and reduce fuel dependencies. The new Framework amends and prolongs in part the Temporary Crisis Framework, adopted on 23 March 2022 to enable Member States to support the economy in the context of the current geopolitical crisis, already amended on 20 July 2022 and on 28 October 2022.

The European Commission has approved a €193 million Lithuanian scheme to support offshore wind farms to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy, in line with the Green Deal Industrial Plan. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, adopted by the Commission on 9 March 2023 to support measures in sectors which are key to accelerate the green transition and reduce fuel dependencies. The new Framework amends and prolongs in part the Temporary Crisis Framework, adopted on 23 March 2022 to enable Member States to support the economy in the context of the current geopolitical crisis, already amended on 20 July 2022 and on 28 October 2022.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €910 million Italian scheme made available in part through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF') to support agro-industrial development. The measure contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy by fostering a smart, competitive, resilient and diversified agricultural sector.

The European Commission has adopted today an amendment of the so-called 'de minimis' regulation for the fishery and aquaculture sector (‘Fishery de minimis Regulation'). The revised regulation, which exempts small aid amounts from State aid control since they are deemed to have no impact on competition and trade in the Single Market, will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal.

On 10 October 2023 at 13:00, the fourth Let’s Talk Competition conversation will focus on the new tools and investigative powers of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.
The panel will be composed of three renowned experts:Mr. Eddy De Smijter, DG Competition Head of Unit for the Foreign Subsidies Regulation; Mrs. Merit Olthoff, Partner for Antitrust, Competition and Trade at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Mr. Yves-Emmanuel Bara, Deputy Head of Economic, Commercial and Financial Services at the French Permanent Representation to the EU.
Mr. Javier Espinoza, Financial Times EU Correspondent, will moderate the debate.

The European Commission is currently evaluating Regulations 1/2003 and 773/2004, which form the framework for the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. In this context, DG Competition is organising a specialised  interactive workshop to gather stakeholder views on the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value of this enforcement framework.

The workshop will take place in Brussels on Thursday, 12 October 2023, from 9:00 until 17:30.

After the first two episodes in Italy and Austria, DG Competition continues its effort to bring the competition policy debated around the Union to five mid-sized cities in five different EU countries. We are happy to announce that the third debate titled “How can we make markets fairer?” will be held in Salamanca, Spain, on 20 October 2023.
You can register at this following link.