09/06/2026
Can Member States use national procedural rules to delay the recovery of unlawful State aid?
A new analysis by Phedon Nicolaides examines a recent CJEU judgment that reinforces one of the strictest principles of EU State aid law: recovery must be immediate and effective.
The Court found that:
• automatic suspension of recovery procedures is incompatible with EU law
• guarantees do not necessarily eliminate the competitive advantage of aid
• repayment in instalments may undermine effective recovery
• Member States cannot rely on national rules to avoid enforcement of Commission recovery decisions
The judgment leaves very little room for delaying the recovery of incompatible aid.
Read the full analysis:
https://loom.ly/WIo78VI