EU State Aid

Our strengths

Our Antitrust and Competition team has market-leading experience in handling complex state aid matters and we provide the full range of state aid support, assisting potential beneficiaries, complainants, public authorities, and a wide variety of other clients. 

We handle numerous state aid proceedings before the European Commission, including procedures concerning the notification of new state aid measures and investigations into unlawful state aid. We also litigate state aid matters before the Court of Justice of the European Union and before the Belgian national courts, and our attorneys help structure transactions with the state or with state-controlled entities in compliance with the relevant rules. In addition, we provide advice in connection with digital and (renewable) energy projects, infrastructure and investment projects, public-private partnerships, privatizations, subsidies, recapitalizations and state guarantees, and tax incentives.

Foreign Subsidies Regulation

In June 2022, the EU adopted a new, far-reaching regulation aimed at tackling the distortive effects of subsidies from non-EU governments on the EU internal market. This Foreign Subsidies Regulation, which entered into force in January 2023 and will apply as from 12 July 2023, gives the European Commission new powers, including the right to launch ex officio investigations, and imposes filing and notification obligations, e.g., in relation to non-EU funded M&A activity and bids for public contracts that involve foreign funding.

We advise clients who are engaged in economic activity within the EU and who are in receipt of or are seeking non-EU financial contributions, and we help them to understand the practical implications of these obligations in relation to their specific business activity.