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...

Foreword / François-Charles Laprévote, Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton -- The special nature of banks and its challenges for competition policy / Ioannis Kokkoris -- Competition, stability and moral hazard: the tension between financial regulation and State aid control / Joanna Gray and...