On the 24th of February 2011, the State Aid Unit of the Centre of International and European Economic Law has successfully organised in Athens a conference, entitled “State Aids-Recent Developments”. The conference, which was hosted by the French Institute of Athens, welcomed presentations on various topics and was attended by lawyers and members of public, as well as managing authorities. The President of the European Court of Justice, Professor Mr. W. Skouris also attended the event.
The presentations of the first session focused on the recent measures which were undertaken or extended to confront the financial and economic crisis. In this context, Mrs. T. Pediaditaki, lawyer, has analyzed the Greek bank support measures, whereas Mrs. E. Mouameletzi, Research Director of the Centre of International and European Economic Law and Coordinator of the State Aid Unit, presented the extension of the Temporary Framework, adopted by the Commission in order to support entreprises acting in the real economy. The next lecturer, Mrs. D. Schina, lawyer, referred to the E.U. Structural Funds’ Framework, as applied in conjunction with the state aid rules. The last speaker, Mr. K. Dryllerakis, lawyer, presented the new Development Framework Law (Law 3908/2011) and has specifically outlined the criteria laid down for the financing of the Greek investment projects, the granting process, as well as the main forms of the aids (tax exemptions/subsidies).
The second session started with the presentation of Mr. G. Papachristou, lawyer, who examined the state aid character of the privatizations of public bodies. Then, Mr. A. Petsetas, lawyer and member of the State Aid Unit spoke about the “de minimis” rule, and has more specifically analyzed the conditions for the granting of state aids under the “de minimis” Regulation (Regulation 1998/2006). The next speaker Mr. M. Kekelekis, Senior Lecturer at the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands, covered the issue of the state aids granted to research institutions and universities, both private and public. The last two lectures came from the energy sector. At first, Mr. Gatidis, lawyer and member of the State Aid Unit, dealt with the issue of state aids granted for the purpose of the liberalization of the energy markets and the following lecturer, Mr. Ch. Synodinos, outlined the benefits that the liberalization entails for the business sector, as well as the society and the economy in general.
After the end of the lectures a discussion took place and there was an opportunity for the speakers to clarify many of the attendees^27 questions, as well as to provide them with useful legal information on state aids.