Unlimited Liability of State-owned Banks under the EC-Rules of State Aids

The applicability of EC law of state aids to the state'ss unlimited liability for Savings Banks and "Landesbanken" is controversial. Legal and political discussions following the Maastricht-II-Treaty tend to assume that liabilities have to be qualified as state aids. However, as the liabilities in question derive from public ownership, they have to be distinguished from securities for corporate debts which might be qualified as state aids under EC law. In this context the book discusses state aids to public companies and the private investor test of the EC Court of Justice. The authors question the EC Commission'ss concept to quantify refinancing advantages which are supposed to be achieved by virtue of public liability Front Matter....Pages II-XII Statement of the issue....Pages 1-2 Institutional burden and guarantor liability as organizational concept of commercially active public institutions....Pages 3-35 Applicability of Article 92 EC Treaty....Pages 37-43 Institutional burden and guarantor liability as a subsidy?....Pages 45-72 Institutional burden and guarantor liability as subsidies by virtue of refinancing advantages?....Pages 73-109 Actual contributions of capital as a subsidy?....Pages 111-115 Special features of the banking sector: Compatibility of subsidization “to relieve a major economic disturbance” (ART. 92,3 (C))....Pages 117-121 Distortion of competition and impairment of international trade....Pages 123-128 Summary....Pages 129-132 Back Matter....Pages 133-143 The applicability of EC law of state aids to the statà ̈s unlimited liability for Savings Banks and Landesbanken is controversial. Legal and political discussions following the Maastricht-II-Treaty tend to assume that liabilities have to be qualified as state aids. However, as the liabilities in question derive from public ownership, they have to be distinguished from securities for corporate debts which might be qualified as state aids under EC law. In this context the book discusses state aids to public companies and the private investor test of the EC Court of Justice. The authors question the EC Commissio&ngrave;s concept to quantify refinancing advantages which are supposed to be achieved by virtue of public liability.