State Aid Control in South-East Europe, the Endless Transition European state aid law quarterly 1 (2013), 83 - 94.
Since the Treaty of Rome, State aid rules have been enforced at a supranational level in the EU. However, in the framework of the past EU enlargement to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs), the European Commission has tried to decentralize the enforcement of State aid rules by requiring CEECs to establish national State aid monitoring authorities. Similarly, during the recent years the European Commission has encouraged countries of South-East Europe(SEE) to introduce an internal system of State aid control. Through a cross-country comparative analysis the paper analyzes the effectiveness of national State aid monitoring systems in SEEs. In particular, the paper argues that the lack of a clear timing for EU accession which is currently affecting more of the SEE countries has hampered the degree of enforcement of State aid rules. The paper concludes that State aid control should thus be carried out exclusively by a supra-national institution, even during the EU pre-accession phase.
