EU State Aid Control: Law and Economics, currently in its second edition, is an in-depth analysis of the legal and economic principles of EU State aid control, thoroughly exploring the central rationales of State aid and the various trade-offs that underlie the rules and decisions taken by the Commission and the Courts. When the first edition of EU State Aid Control – Law and Economics was published eight years ago, it was a first-of-its-kind book.

Since then, the world has seen a great deal of developments that seemed to be a thing of the past: Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. European politics and the law of the European Union have had to adapt to these challenges and changes, and EU State aid law has been no exception. In recent years, the European Commission has reviewed and adapted the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), as well as its Guidelines and communications covering practically all areas of State aid control. New rules have also sprouted, such as the EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, a new set of crisis rules in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, which are all profoundly influencing, expanding, and modifying State aid control law and practice in the EU. Concurrently, the European Courts have shaped State aid law through several significant judgments.

Koert van Buiren, director of Economic Bureau Amsterdam, together with co-author Alexander Rose, contributed to the second edition of EU State Aid Control: Law and Economics. Koert and Alexander wrote the chapter on the General Block Exemption Regulation. This regulation stipulates that certain categories of state aid do not need to be notified to the European Commission.

More information on the book can be found here.