In the last decade, since the adoption of the “State Aid Package”, SSE and its members have systematically monitored the impact of EU State Aid Rules on social services. They have regularly held exchanges of views with their members and with the relevant Commission Services.
SSE on 20 July 2022, made a written submission to the EC Consultation on exemptions for small amounts of state aid (de minimis aid). SSE considers that many of the points raised in this contribution are generally valid1 and thus has integrated them into this reply.
Directly linked to this call for evidence, SSE has also provided input and comments to the EESC Opinion “Public subsidies/health and social services of general economic interest” (INT/1016) adopted on 27 April 2023. SSE shares most of the analysis presented there and many of the proposals.
SSE structures its reply in line with the three main proposed changes in the DRAFT SGEI de minimis Regulation of 19 April 2023, as set out in the Explanatory Note issued by the Commission Services. We add additional aspects which cannot be attributed to those three issues in a fourth section.
1) Ceiling of SGEI de minimis Regulation
2) Alignment of certain concepts
3) Strengthening of the transparency requirements
4) Other aspects which cannot be directly attributed to the three issues of the EC Explanatory Note.
You can read the full contribution here.