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Biondi, Andrea; Farley, Martin --- "The Relationship between State Aid and the Single Market" [2011] ELECD 708; in Szyszczak, Erika (ed), "Research Handbook on European State Aid Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Research Handbook on European State Aid Law

Editor(s): Szyszczak, Erika

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802741

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: The Relationship between State Aid and the Single Market

Author(s): Biondi, Andrea; Farley, Martin

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

12 The relationship between State aid and
the single market
Andrea Biondi and Martin Farley*


I. INTRODUCTION

Since the adoption of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 the creation of the
European single market has been fundamental to the European integra-
tion process. One of the principal methods by which the rules of the
single market have sought to achieve European-wide integration has
been through the imposition of limits on national economic policies so
as to ensure the free-flow of trade. Central to this aim is the prohibition
on Member States from seeking to influence or affect inter-State trade.
This prohibition is embodied within the free movement provisions, which
outlaw regulatory measures that create an obstacle to the free movement
of goods, capital, workers, or services.
In addition to the protection of these `four freedoms', the Treaty of
Rome, and now the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
(TFEU), also included provisions prohibiting the introduction of dis-
criminatory tax measures by Member States that could have an effect on
inter-State trade, as well as rules governing the creation of State monopo-
lies. Each set of these provisions, however, is a specific embodiment of a
more fundamental, underlying principle: Member States must not favour
certain (usually national) undertakings to the disadvantage of undertak-
ings from other Member States. It is this basic premise that forms the basis
on which the realisation of the single market is built, and a principle that
is expressly embodied in ...