Droit européen des aides d’Etat et intérêt général : le contrôle par la Commission des politiques nationales d’intervention économique

In a few words: The thesis examines how specific public aids, although distorting competition, are accepted because they contribute to the general interest of a Member State or of the European Union. The thesis, by analyzing this relationship, brings an original view on State aid law and proposes several paths for the future development of this important discipline. More precisely: The present thesis analyses the State aid control carried out by the European Commission as regards the concept of general interest. In doing so, this research contributes, on one hand, to situate the current position of this concept within EU law, as well as, on the other, it underlines the profound developments this control inflicts on the Member States’ economic intervention policies. Any person interested in State aid law knows that, in one way or another, State aid is deemed compatible with the single market because it benefits to society, namely because it allows the realisation of general interest objectives. Consequently, if general interest is at stake, what are the legal bases used in order to express it? What are the references of the Commission and how does it nourish its reflection? How come that the European Parliament and the Council appear to be apart? How are national interest and European interest articulated? In addition, Member States today have to justify to what extent their economic interventions are preferable to the free market and put them in the prolongation of the objectives sought at the European level. The necessity of this national policies’ orientation is not questioned. However, Member States should collectively find at European level the room for manoeuvre that they individually lose at national level. The first part of the thesis analyses the scope of State aid control. Why a general ban of State aid? Why are certain exemptions accepted? The second part describes the method by which certain general interest objectives are recognised. It specifies that th
(DROI 3) -- UCL, 2008