COVID-19 and State aid in Serbia: A test for the new State Aid Commission

Abstract

The financial package of the Republic of Serbia aiming to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak in the economy of the country was codified through several decrees of the Government. Enabling different types of State aid, they should be scrutinised against the Serbian legal framework on State aid. Since 2009 Serbia has established an internal system of State aid control. The State Aid Commission, the watchdog of State aid rules in the Serbian legal order has to be notified by every central and local state institution of any new subsidy scheme they intend to grant. It is this monitoring State aid authority which decides whether to approve, block or impose conditions on the notified aid schemes, evaluating their impact on the free competition in the market.  However, despite the partial alignment of Serbian State aid legal framework with the EU Commission Temporary Framework of 17 March 2020, COVID-19 financial State aid measures, have not been ex ante scrutinized by the Serbian State Aid Commission.