EU Urged to Turn Blind Eye to State Aid as Economic Crisis Looms
- Austrian finance minister says bureacratic delays hamper aid
- EU regulators already relaxed strict state-aid rules in March
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Austria urged the European Union to temporarily abandon its strict state-aid rulebook to avoid bureaucratic delays in government support for companies facing the worst slump since World War II.
Finance Minister Gernot Bluemel said the EU nations want to give support to companies risking financial ruin amid the coronavirus lockdowns -- not to give them an unfair advantage over foreign rivals. He said the EU vetting process for subsidies to make sure they don’t distort competition shouldn’t slow down that aid.