Europaudvalget 2018-19 (2. samling)
EUU Alm.del Bilag 207
Offentligt
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NOTAT
25. september 2019
19/04669-13
The Danish Government’s response to the consultation on
the targeted
revision of the GBER
–
InvestEU, ETC and Horizon
The Danish government welcomes the opportunity to comment on the pro-
posal to revise the General Block Exemption Regulation ("GBER") to accom-
pany the next Multiannual Financial Framework ("MFF").
Generally, we welcome the Commission’s initiative to strengthen
the interplay
between state aid policy and cohesion policy. We can support the proposal to
simplify the rules for granting state aid combined with financial support from
the EU-funds. Please find below the Danish comments to the three areas in
which the Commission proposes to extend the GBER:
National funding involved in financial products supported by the Inves-
tEU Fund;
Research and Development and Innovation (“R&D&I”) projects having
received a Seal of Excellence under H2020 or Horizon Europe
European Territorial Cooperation projects ("ETC")
The Danish government acknowledges that the proposed compatibility condi-
tions for exemption of state aid combined with financial support from the EU-
funds are complimentary to the relevant conditions and scrutiny in the EU-
programs. Hence, a level of safeguard against distortions of competition is al-
ready included in the programs and by the involvement of the Commission in
the management of the programs.
However, for any new category of aid in the GBER it must be ensured that
public funding does not replace private investment, that the aid address a mar-
ket failure, that it serves general policy objectives and does not go beyond the
amounts needed to meet these objectives. It is also important that the Commis-
sion in cooperation with the Member States continue its work to ensure state
aid discipline in individual Member States when applying the GBER.
Furthermore, the GBER must provide sufficient safeguards against state aid
being granted or linked to relocation of jobs or activities between Member
States. We are aware that the Commission attaches great importance to this
issue, which it also stated under the latest revision of the enabling regulation.
InvestEU
The proposed thresholds for granting state aid in combination with the Inves-
tEU-program take into account that this type of aid will not be direct grants
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but rather aid through financial instruments such as guarantees. Hence, we do
not oppose to the proposed threshold levels.
The Danish government finds that the conditions for exemption of the new
areas in the GBER should rely on the conditions that already apply for the
corresponding categories of state aid in the current GBER.
It is proposed that the general condition in the GBER that the beneficiary can-
not be an undertaking in difficulty should not apply for state aid grants sup-
plementing the InvestEU-program. The exemption from this general compati-
bility condition is to apply to SME’s and financial intermediaries only. Hence,
large undertakings that are not financial intermediaries are required to demon-
strate that they are not undertakings in difficulty in order to receive state aid
related to the InvestEU-program under the GBER.
While we acknowledge that a level of safeguard against the beneficiary being
an undertaking in difficulty is already included in the EU-program we do not
see a need to exempt any of the beneficiaries of national aid combined with
aid under the InvestEU-program from this fundamental horizontal condition
in the GBER.
In the current GBER exemptions from the condition that aid cannot be granted
to undertakings in difficulty only apply to e.g. aid schemes to make good dam-
age caused by natural disasters and start up aid. We do not find that the same
considerations for exemption is present in the case of combining national aid
with aid from the InvestEU-program. If the undertaking demonstrates that it is
not in difficulty in the process of approval of aid at EU-level it seems that it
will not be an excessive administrate burden to also provide this evidence to
the granting authority on a national level in advance of receiving national aid.
Research development and innovation
–
seal of excellence
The Danish government can generally support the Commission’s proposal to
amend the GBER on R&D&I so it also covers situations where national state
aid is granted to projects awarded a Seal of Excellence quality label.
European Territorial Cooperation projects (ETC)
The Danish government finds that the existing GBER regulation contributes
to a fair balance between the necessities of granting aid to ETC-projects from
participating Member States while ensuring that distortion of competition is
limited. We also take note that undertakings participating in ETC-projects can
in principle apply to all GBER provisions.
The ETC-projects in which Denmark participates are primarily financed under
the De Minimis Regulation. Furthermore, the current GBER already provides
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for a block exemption for ETC-projects to SMEs. From our point of view,
there is not an immediate need for changing the status quo.
In Article 20, the Commission proposes that state aid under the GBER to ETC-
projects should not be limited to SMEs. According to the proposal, large un-
dertakings should be able to receive state aid of up to 65 per cent of costs
relating to infrastructure, equipment and construction works. Up to 2 million.
EUR per company per project.
The Danish government has great concerns about the proposal to include large
undertakings in the scope of the GBER for ETC-programs. In our view, public
support to large undertakings should always be limited to a minimum, as these
undertakings are likely to be able to cover expenses themselves. In case state
aid to large undertakings’
participation in
ETC-projects will be included in the
GBER it should be strictly limited to the proposed article 20a. I.e. state aid
should not exceed EUR 20.000 per undertaking per project.
As the Commission proposes that state aid to large undertakings can cover
costs for infrastructure, equipment and construction works, it is furthermore
our concern that the aid could lead to relocation of undertakings and jobs in
the EU. This would be a highly unwelcome negative side effect of the pro-
posal. Therefore, the Commission should provide a protection against reloca-
tion. We propose to introduce a safeguard against relocation similar to that
provided for in article 14(16) of the GBER.
Alternatively, we would urge the Commission to exclude large undertakings
from receiving aid for equipment, infrastructure and works under the GBER,
since these categories of expenditure are connected with a higher risk of relo-
cation effects.
Finally, in respect to the proposed aid intensities we note they are substantially
increased. Thus, a small enterprise can receive aid of up to 80%, while me-
dium-sized enterprises can receive up to 75%. In general, we cannot support
that state aid granted to an ETC-project under the GBER exceeds the co-fi-
nancing rate set out in the ETC-programs, which generally cannot exceed 70%.