On 1 December 2024 the 2025-2029 College of Commissioners took office, led by President Ursula von der Leyen in her second term.
This blog explores what companies can expect from the new European Commission in the field of EU State aid.
Key takeaways
- The Commission will establish a new State aid framework to allow EU Member States to grant State aid for (i) accelerating the roll-out of renewable energy, (ii) deploying industrial decarbonisation, and (iii) ensuring sufficient manufacturing capacity for clean tech “made in Europe” while preserving cohesion objectives.
- Approval of State aid for Important Projects of Common European Interest (“IPCEIs”) will be made simpler and faster. The Commission may further expand the scope of IPCEIs to include innovations more broadly and possibly manufacturing projects.
- The Commission will create a ‘European Competitiveness Fund’, aimed at supporting the development of strategic technologies and their manufacturing in the EU. Depending on its design, this fund may help level the playing field among EU Member States.
- State aid rules will be revised to enable wider housing support measures, notably for energy efficiency and social housing. Other State aid rules will also undergo a revision during the 2025-2029 mandate, such as aid to the transport sector or for companies in difficulty.
Perpetuation of relaxed State aid rules for the green transition?
President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her political programme for the 2025-2029 mandate the need to have a new Clean Industrial Deal, to decarbonise, and to bring down energy prices.
As a key pillar of the EU Clean Industrial Deal, she called for the establishment of “a new State aid framework” (see mission letter to Executive Vice-President (“EVP”) Ribera, responsible for the ‘Clean, Just and Competitive Transition’ and thus for EU competition policy). This new framework will allow EU Member States to grant State aid for (i) accelerating the roll-out of renewable energy, (ii) deploying industrial decarbonisation, and (iii) ensuring sufficient manufacturing capacity for clean tech in the EU. It will build on the experience of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (“TCTF”) and preserve cohesion objectives.
This new State aid framework may make more permanent the relaxed State aid rules in relation to the green transition.
As a response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, heavily subsidising the green transition, the Commission relaxed the EU State aid rules for the roll-out of renewable energy, industrial decarbonisation, and manufacturing in the EU/EEA of relevant equipment for the transition towards a net-zero economy (for more details, see our blogpost). The TCTF was remarkable in terms of industrial policy because, under general State aid rules, support to large businesses pursuing manufacturing projects is generally considered unnecessary – large companies have access to capital and those measures may be considered highly distortive. Such aid could traditionally only have been authorised by the Commission under strict conditions and in support of a new economic activity in disadvantaged areas under the Commission’s Regional Aid Guidelines (“RAG”).Continue Reading State aid – Outlook for the European Commission’s 2025-2029 Mandate