Gründe und Grenzen des »EG-Beihilfenverbots«

Folko Bührle's study of the system of state aid and the law pertaining to state aid ranges from theoretical problems outside the law and the difficulties in constitutional law and European Community law in general to the specific problems of the individual constituent facts of the ban on state aid. Where does a decision have to be made between prohibited patronage and permitted policy-making, and what are the criteria for this? The author believes that the strict adherence to a clearly defined functional framework for state aid along with a corresponding proportionality principle and a differentiating allocation of assessment prerogatives and the burden of proof could be the possible solutions, in particular for delimiting jurisdiction and restraining a European Community which is noticeably exchanging its role as that as of a protector of the market for a role as a political policy-maker.