"There was a temporary, crisis framework for state aid because we are in a deep transition of decarbonisation and digitalisation and on top of that we had the crisis with the pandemic and with the Russian war in Ukraine. That temporary framework was justified, but now it is expiring," Ursula von der Leyen said.

Speaking at a debate in Brussels promoted by the economic think tank Bruegel and the British newspaper Financial Times with the lead candidates ('spitzenkandidat') of the parties for the European elections, the official explained that "most" of these more flexible EU rules for state aid, which allowed public support from the Member States, "will now expire in the middle of this year".

"Then we go back to normal state aid," with strict rules for this type of aid, she added.

Von der Leyen pointed out that, among the 27 EU Member States, the country that grants the most state aid 'per capita' is Hungary.

The European Commission has decided to extend the more flexible EU rules for state aid due to the energy crisis until June 2024, following the geopolitical context. These rules had been relaxed so that countries could help their economies during the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion.

The temporary crisis and transition framework is expected to be phased out after that date.

The issue at stake is the State Aid Temporary Crisis Framework, initially adopted on 19 March 2020 to allow Member States to use the flexibility provided for in the state aid rules to support their economies in the context of the pandemic, subject to Brussels' approval.

Since May 2022, the EU has opted to maintain this relaxation of the rules in order to allow public support for the economy in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine.

Since then, some measures have been extended, which now ends in the middle of this year.

Data recently released by the EU executive indicate that, in 2022, the Portuguese State granted state aid of €222.5 million related to Covid-19 and €58 million to offset the effects of the war in Ukraine, for a total of €2.3 billion in Portuguese public aid.

In that year, the 27 Member States reported around €228 billion in state aid expenditure for all purposes, including crisis measures related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion, and other measures.

This amount corresponds to 1.4% of the EU's 2022 Gross Domestic Product and represents a 34.8% reduction compared to 2021, when public aid expenditure reached €349.7 billion.

The European Commission applies strict state aid rules to ensure that the support given by EU governments to large and small companies does not give them an undue advantage or unbalance competition in the internal market.

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