Is State Aid Law a Self-Contained Regime Within EU Law?

Abstract

This article discusses two seemingly contradictory strands of case law by the EU Courts: one finding that a State aid procedure may never lead to a result in contradiction to other rules and principles of EU law; the other holding that only such violations of other EU law should be considered by the European Commission that are intricately linked to the State aid measure itself. This article examines how this case law relates to general EU law principles such as consistency and loyalty and a synthesis is proposed based on the recent Grand Chamber judgment in Braesch. This article submits that State aid law is not a self-contained regime within EU law allowing the European Commission to ignore the requirements of other EU law. Keywords: modalities of State aid; self-contained regime; consistency; loyalty; legal certainty; power plant