Unlimited Liability of State-owned Banks under the EC-Rules of State Aids
[Book]
by Ulrich Immenga, Joachim Rudo.
Berlin, Heidelberg
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
1998
(xii, 142 pages)
Statement of issue --; Institutional burden and guarantor liability as organizational concept of commercially active public institutions --; Applicability of Article 92 EC Treaty --; Institutional burden and guarantor liability as a subsidy? --; Institutional burden and guarantor liability as subsidies by virtue of refinancing advantages? --; Actual contributions of capital as a subsidy? --; Special features of the banking sector: Compatibility of subsidization "to relieve a major economic disturbance"(Art.92,3(C) --; Distortion of competition and impairment of international trade.-
The applicability of EC law of state aids to the state`s unlimited liability for Savings Banks and "Landesbanken" is controversial. Legal and political discussions following the Maastricht-II-Treaty tend to assume that liabilities have to be qualified as state aids. However, as the liabilities in question derive from public ownership, they have to be distinguished from securities for corporate debts which might be qualified as state aids under EC law. In this context the book discusses state aids to public companies and the private investor test of the EC Court of Justice. The authors question the EC Commission`s concept to quantify refinancing advantages which are supposed to be achieved by virtue of public liability.