The system of control and enforcement of state aid law in the European Union – the European Commission’s powers and its cooperation with the member states’ courts in the years 2000–2010

In this article the author refers to issues relating to the system of control and enforcement of state aid law in the European Union in the years 2000–2010. It presented the architecture of the state aid control system in the light of new rules and procedures for its admissibility. The analysis concerned the European Commission’s powers and the role of the Member States’ courts in state aid policy-making. The article contains empirical data showing the direction of changes in the value and structure of state aid in the European Union. The study involved the practice issued by the European Commission decisions declaring state aid as incompatible with European competition law and these are the subject of the investigation procedure. In this context information is presented on the number of cases and the value of state aid to be recovered in the Member States, referring to the interventions undertaken in various sectors of the European Community.