Extract
[...] Thus, French law, in order to regulate public intervention in this matter, has operated a mutation of its block of constitutionality, thus allowing a distribution of competences between local authorities and the State. From then on, the State having only a general intervention competence, it is up to the local authorities to intervene in the cases provided for by the legislator. It is thus that the general code of local authorities provides for the granting of these state aids in articles L1511-1 and following. [...]
[...] The notion of State aid, as doctrine understands it, is essential in European competitive logic. It is defined by Article 107 § 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which provides that "except as otherwise provided for in the treaties, aid granted by the Member States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favoring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible with the internal market". [...]
[...] ] to determine whether the beneficiary enterprise receives an economic advantage, which it would not have obtained in market conditions »3. Thus, aid can take different forms of financial benefits, such as capital contributions, commercial or logistical assistance, and even indirect benefits that lighten the social charges of companies, such as tax exemptions, guarantees, and others. Moreover, the European authorities refuse to qualify as "'economic » an activity not consisting of offering goods or services. In fact, it has been judged, for example, that the purchase of healthcare products by hospitals did not meet the requirements imposed by Article 107 of the TFEU 6. [...]
[...] It may be, for example, public aid. This is the most common form, as it may involve resources granted directly by public services or indirectly through bodies linked to the state. Or it may be a selective advantage. The legislator seeks here to favour companies or productions that are hardly viable in the current economy. An aid that affects competition. It should be noted that the case law understands the applicability of this aid within the national and European markets. [...]
[...] A binding positive law. Through the continent, anticompetitive practices are likely to be subject to economic sanctions or even penal ones. In France, in particular, Article L. 420-6 of the Commercial Code punishes, among other things, "the cartels and economic domination abuses of four years of imprisonment and 75,000 euros of fine ». Thus, certain state subsidies are clearly prohibited by competition law, either because they cause distortions at the level of the internal market, or because they favor national enterprises at the expense of those of the European Union countries. [...]
