Private investor-creditor principle in State aid case law – Ciprian PILAN

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The funds allocation from state resources, write-off or reschedule of debts, guarantees by public authorities are apt to be aid. However, a State measure only constitutes State aid in the meaning of Article 87(1) EC Treaty if the recipient undertaking receives an advantage which it would not have obtained under normal market conditions. It therefore has to be assessed whether a market economy operator would have granted the same waivers as the public authorities. When facing the question whether the measure would be the most economically sound option, a private operator would compare the financial outcome in such scenario with the possible outcome in alternative scenarios and choose the most advantageous.