
The recurrence of economic crises in the EU over the years and the way they have been tackled with state aid measures raises the question whether the EU is systematically prepared to tackle economic crises with state aid instruments or whether it has to rely on ad hoc measures. It is also unclear whether the EU’s existing state aid rules are an effective tool for restoring the competitiveness of EU companies damaged by economic crises and whether, and possibly to what extent, the EU’s response to economic crises has led to changes in the EU state aid regime and, if so, whether these changes are sustainable. This paper attempts to answer these questions by examining the EU’s response to repeated economic crises since 2008.