Regional conference on state aid: successful first step towards a tradition
The Regional conference “State Aid and Western Balkan Economies”, which for the first time brought together representatives of state aid control bodies from the Western Balkans, the European Commission, the Competition Council of Lithuania as well as eminent European experts, was held in Belgrade on September 26 and 27, 2019.
During the two-day gathering, around 100 participants discussed challenges for Western Balkan six partners in alignment of state aid rules with European rules.
The conference was organised by the project “Support to the Commission for State Aid Control”, with the support of the Commission for State Aid Control of the Republic of Serbia, which is the main project’s beneficiary.
In his opening address, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Gojko Stanivuković expressed his satisfaction by attending an important gathering of state aid control bodies from across the region, in particular because of the fact that everyone in the region face similar challenges in the field of state aid and alignment of state aid rules with EU standards. “I hope and I believe that this format of regional conferences will become our tradition which would enable permanent exchange of good practice and strengthening the administrative capacities of institutions in the region,” Stanivuković said.
The Head of Operations of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia Yngve Engstroem said that state aid is an important part of the negotiation chapter 8 (Competition policy) in the accession negotiations, but also a part where much remains to be done to achieve full compliance with obligations from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the acquis communautaire. “Behind these requirements, of course, is the goal of making your economies a functioning market economy, able to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the European Union,” Engstroem said.
President of the State Aid Control Commission Vladimir Antonijević said that competition policy meetings and cooperation are common in the region but not on state aid, although everyone in the region has the same problems and challenges in the area. The Team Leader of the project “Support to the State Aid Control Commission” Radmila Mihić said that “alignment of state aid rules with EU rules is not an aim per se”: “In the core are benefits for citizens resulting from the alignment – less of the “crony economy”, better economic conditions and higher life standard”.
On the first day of the conference, Fedon Nicolaides, professor at the University of Maastricht, presented the state aid control system in the EU and spoke about the more economical approach to state aid control. Another European expert in the field, University of Birmingham professor Luca Rubini spoke about challenges of the EU integration in the field of state aid for accession countries. The Chairman of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania, Šarunas Keserauskas, outlined the state aid challenges faced by Lithuania after its accession to the EU. “Fair competition is the basis of a market economy. Therefore, competition should be the first priority, not state aid,”Keserauskas said.
Opening the second day of the conference, European Commission (Directorate-General for Competition) representative Arianna Podesta expressed satisfaction with the fact that the regional gathering on state aid has been organised. “We believe it is of great relevance for the entire region and we have a hope it can perhaps become a tradition, in order to bring benefits,” Podesta said.
Representatives of the Western Balkan state aid control bodies shared their experiences during a roundtable discussion “Challenges for state aid institutions in Western Balkans 6”. First regional conference on state aid was wrapped up by the discussion among Western Balkan partners and by the comments by many participants that it would be very beneficial for the region if the gathering becomes a traditional one.