Brussels à Jour — EU State Aid

Spring cleaning in State aid: the Commission sweeps through guarantees, banking rules, and the GBER in one season

Like the first crocuses pushing through the Brussels soil, a trio of major State aid consultations has emerged this spring — each promising to reshape the landscape for years to come. Taken together, they amount to the most comprehensive overhaul of the EU State aid toolkit in a long time: the Commission is revising its 2008 Notice on State guarantees, modernising its crisis-era banking State aid framework, and proposing an entirely refreshed General Block Exemption Regulation before the current one expires at year's end.

The common thread? Simplification, coherence, and a decisive move away from crisis-era architecture. Executive Vice-President Ribera's competitiveness-focused mandate and the broader drive to make State aid rules "simpler and more effective" frame all three initiatives. For practitioners, clients, and public authorities alike, the message is clear: engage now or accept the rules others help shape.

Here is what you need to know.

Revised EU State Aid Rules on Guarantees — Call for Evidence

The Commission has taken the first formal step toward revising the 2008 Guarantee Notice — the instrument that governs whether State guarantees on loans and similar financial instruments are priced at market terms or carry a State aid element. A call for evidence was published on 3 March 2026, with a feedback deadline of 31 March 2026.

This is the first revision since the Notice entered into force nearly two decades ago. It follows a formal evaluation launched in August 2022, the findings of which the Commission published in a Staff Working Document in October 2025. The evaluation's verdict: the Notice remains the relevant framework for assessing market conformity of guarantee-premiums, but it can be significantly improved. In particular, the current rules are complex and costly to apply — especially for smaller guarantee-measures and smaller Member States — and contain elements that sit uneasily alongside the broader State aid framework, notably the 2016 Notice on the Notion of State Aid.

Three objectives anchor the revision. First, the Commission intends to update the methodology for establishing that guarantee premiums reflect what private market operators would charge — including refreshing the safe-harbour option available to SMEs, which currently tends to overestimate the premium. Second, it aims to align the Notice with other State aid instruments, particularly regarding the use of direct market benchmarks. Third, it will seek to reduce administrative burden, including by overhauling the reporting framework and broadening the use of standardised approaches.

A notable addition: the revised Notice will incorporate safeguards to preclude potential aid flowing to lenders rather than borrowers — an issue the Commission's empirical analysis found may affect nearly two thirds of guarantee-transactions.

When? Feedback on the call for evidence closes on 31 March 2026; a targeted consultation, including a draft revised Notice, is expected later in 2026; finalisation is targeted for Q2 2027.

Guarantee institutions and Member State authorities should prepare for potentially material changes to the methodologies they use to demonstrate market conformity — including methodologies already approved under the current framework. Companies relying on State-guaranteed financing, and banks administering guarantee schemes, should likewise keep a close watch: the cost, structure, and availability of guaranteed loans may all be affected.

Revision of the State Aid Rules for Banks in Difficulty — Call for Evidence

The Commission is also turning the page on its crisis-era banking State aid framework. A call for evidence, published on 17 March 2026 with a feedback deadline of 14 April 2026, launches the revision of six separate communications adopted between 2008 and 2013 in response to the global financial crisis. Rules that also apply mutatis mutandis to insurance companies.

The objective is threefold: consolidate those six instruments into a single, clearer rulebook; align the State aid framework with the reformed Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance (CMDI) framework, on which political agreement was reached in June 2025; and modernise the rules to reflect the post-crisis regulatory environment, including the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and the Single Resolution Mechanism.

The rationale is straightforward. The CMDI framework establishes a clear preference for addressing bank failures through harmonised EU resolution tools — prioritising loss absorption by shareholders, creditors, and industry-funded mechanisms over taxpayer support, except in exceptional circumstances. The current State aid rules, designed for a fundamentally different era, no longer fully align with this preference. The resulting misalignment risks inconsistent outcomes, regulatory arbitrage between resolution-based and State aid-based pathways, and unnecessary administrative burden from overlapping requirements.

Crucially, the Commission has signalled that while additional State aid requirements may still apply where the CMDI framework pursues different objectives — for instance, addressing competition distortions — duplication of principles already covered by CMDI would be removed. An evaluation report published on 4 March 2026 provides the analytical basis for this exercise.

When? Feedback closes on 14 April 2026; a public consultation on draft text is expected later in 2026; adoption is targeted for Q2 2027, roughly one year before the reformed CMDI framework is expected to apply (approximately Q2 2028).

Banks — particularly smaller and medium-sized institutions — should assess how the alignment of State aid and CMDI rules may reshape their options in a distress scenario. The direction of travel is clear: resolution is to be the primary pathway, with national solutions involving State aid becoming the exception. The treatment of precautionary recapitalisation under Article 32(4)(d) BRRD, which straddles the boundary between State aid and resolution, will be a particularly closely watched element.

Public Consultation on the Draft for a New General Block Exemption Regulation

If the guarantee and banking consultations are very important and fundamental acts, the GBER revision might be nonetheless the headliner. On 25 February 2026, the Commission published a complete draft of an entirely refreshed General Block Exemption Regulation — described as a comprehensive update since the GBER entered into force in 2014. The public consultation runs until 23 April 2026.

The stakes are considerable. The GBER allows Member States to implement a wide range of State aid measures without prior Commission notification and approval, provided certain conditions are met. In 2024, Member States reported providing aid under 6,509 GBER measures — 69% of all active State aid measures, up from 41% in 2014. The current Regulation expires on 31 December 2026, and the Commission plans to adopt the new one before that date to ensure a seamless transition.

The overarching objectives are simplification, reduced administrative burden, and alignment with current social, market, and technological developments. The draft introduces a significant number of changes. Among the most notable:

• Airports. Clearer and more flexible rules, with an increase in the permitted airport size eligible for operating aid.
• Renewable energy. Simpler and larger-scale operating aid for renewables, including the removal of the EUR 300 million annual overall budget cap for operating aid schemes — though a per-beneficiary cap is retained.
• Small amounts of aid. New straightforward compatibility conditions for small aid amounts for specific projects or activities — such as R&D or environmental protection — regardless of the beneficiary's size. This simplifies access particularly for small mid-caps, municipal undertakings, and social economy entities.
• Financial intermediaries. New clarity on compatibility of aid channelled through financial instruments handled by investment funds or banks.
• Simplified cost options. Flat-rate financing, unit costs, or lump sums may be used as alternatives to documenting actual costs across all aid categories.
• R&D and innovation. Young, innovative firms with weak equity bases or spending cash reserves on product development will no longer be automatically barred from eligibility as "undertakings in difficulty." The – for the GBER – new category of "applied research" could simplify the distinction between industrial research and experimental development.
• Agriculture, fisheries, and aquaculture. These sectors become eligible for most GBER aid categories alongside sectoral block exemptions.
• Training and skills. Higher aid for upskilling and reskilling workers, particularly in digital and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
• SMEs and social enterprises. More flexible risk-finance instruments, favourable tax treatment of share options and warrants for employees, and more accessible SME aid for social enterprises.
• Housing. Higher aid intensities for energy-efficiency measures in social or affordable housing projects.
• Evaluation obligation. The obligation to evaluate aid schemes with large budgets is abolished.

 

Structurally, the new Regulation regroups aid categories into thematically coherent sections, merges overlapping provisions, and moves illustrative or excessively detailed material into a separate guidance document that will accompany the GBER. The draft also amends the sectoral block exemption regulations for agriculture and fisheries and the Transport Block Exemption Regulation.

When? Public consultation closes on 23 April 2026; discussions with Member States proceed in parallel; adoption is planned for end-2026; the current GBER expires on 31 December 2026.

The practical implications are wide-ranging. Member State authorities should assess whether existing aid schemes can be restructured under the expanded GBER to avoid notification obligations. Companies — particularly SMEs and start-ups — should explore whether the new categories create fresh opportunities for State-supported investment. Financial intermediaries should note the new GBER-compatibility rules for aid channelled through financial instruments, which are directly relevant to structuring investment funds, loan facilities, and guarantee programmes.

One caveat: the final text may differ materially from the draft in response to stakeholder feedback and Member State input. Companies should not yet base compliance strategies solely on the current draft.

The compressed timeline for the GBER — adoption before year-end to avoid a gap — means the final text will crystallise quickly after the consultation closes. Stakeholders who wish to shape the outcome should not let the spring pass them by.

Trends and Outlook

Three cross-cutting themes merit attention.

Simplification as a political programme. All three initiatives share the Commission's stated objective of making State aid rules simpler, more coherent, and less costly to apply — part of EVP Ribera's broader competitiveness agenda. For practitioners, the direction of travel is consistently toward less red tape and faster processes, but the transitional period will inevitably bring its own interpretive challenges.

Coherence across frameworks. A recurring finding in each underlying evaluation is that the existing rules are internally inconsistent or misaligned with related frameworks. The revisions aim to resolve these tensions, which should ultimately reduce legal uncertainty.

From crisis-era to post-crisis architecture. Both the banking State aid rules and the Guarantee Notice trace their origins to the 2008 financial crisis or its immediate aftermath. Their concurrent revision signals the Commission's view that the crisis-era toolkit has served its purpose and is ready for replacement.

Until next time — may your consultations bloom and your deadlines never wilt. Follow us on LinkedIn and don't miss any edition of #BrusselsàJour.