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EU State Aid During Covid-19 - Discrimination Between Airlines?

Tuffaha, Dima LU (2022) HARN63 20221
Department of Business Law
Abstract
This thesis analyses the state aid given to European airlines during the Covid-19 pandemic and looks into Ryanair’s arguments that member states discriminated between airlines, targeting their own national carriers with aid while forsaking budget airlines and non-national airlines. Two research questions were posed, investigating how member states applied the Temporary Framework for state aid set up by the European Commission and whether states discriminated between airlines. Using the legal dogmatic tailored towards EU law and a case study analysis, the first question was answered by studying the European airline industry and types of airlines, discerning the Temporary Framework and its basis on Articles 107(2)(b) and 107(3)(b) TFEU, and... (More)
This thesis analyses the state aid given to European airlines during the Covid-19 pandemic and looks into Ryanair’s arguments that member states discriminated between airlines, targeting their own national carriers with aid while forsaking budget airlines and non-national airlines. Two research questions were posed, investigating how member states applied the Temporary Framework for state aid set up by the European Commission and whether states discriminated between airlines. Using the legal dogmatic tailored towards EU law and a case study analysis, the first question was answered by studying the European airline industry and types of airlines, discerning the Temporary Framework and its basis on Articles 107(2)(b) and 107(3)(b) TFEU, and looking into member states’ application of the Framework on their airlines (amount, reasoning, beneficiaries). The second question was answered by analysing the case of Ryanair and the sixteen cases it filed in the General Court against the Commission. Each finalised case was studied, comparing those lost by Ryanair and those it won. This thesis, agreeing with the Court’s judgements, found that states did not discriminate between airlines, since it limited their aid to airlines holding a national operating license (targeting both national and budget airlines). The cases that Ryanair won were decided on the basis that the Commission did not justify its reasons for approving the state aid notifications well. Thus, discrimination between airlines based on their type did not occur thus far but instead limited state resources to businesses operating out of their own state. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Tuffaha, Dima LU
supervisor
organization
course
HARN63 20221
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
State Aid, European Commission, Airlines, General Court, European Union, Covid-19, Ryanair, Budget Airline, National Carrier, Temporary Framework for State Aid, Pandemic, Discrimination, Fairness, Competition
language
English
id
9085124
date added to LUP
2022-06-17 10:38:24
date last changed
2022-06-17 10:38:24
@misc{9085124,
  abstract     = {{This thesis analyses the state aid given to European airlines during the Covid-19 pandemic and looks into Ryanair’s arguments that member states discriminated between airlines, targeting their own national carriers with aid while forsaking budget airlines and non-national airlines. Two research questions were posed, investigating how member states applied the Temporary Framework for state aid set up by the European Commission and whether states discriminated between airlines. Using the legal dogmatic tailored towards EU law and a case study analysis, the first question was answered by studying the European airline industry and types of airlines, discerning the Temporary Framework and its basis on Articles 107(2)(b) and 107(3)(b) TFEU, and looking into member states’ application of the Framework on their airlines (amount, reasoning, beneficiaries). The second question was answered by analysing the case of Ryanair and the sixteen cases it filed in the General Court against the Commission. Each finalised case was studied, comparing those lost by Ryanair and those it won. This thesis, agreeing with the Court’s judgements, found that states did not discriminate between airlines, since it limited their aid to airlines holding a national operating license (targeting both national and budget airlines). The cases that Ryanair won were decided on the basis that the Commission did not justify its reasons for approving the state aid notifications well. Thus, discrimination between airlines based on their type did not occur thus far but instead limited state resources to businesses operating out of their own state.}},
  author       = {{Tuffaha, Dima}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{EU State Aid During Covid-19 - Discrimination Between Airlines?}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}