Coronavirus: Belgium, among the EU countries having granted the least public aid in 2020
This Thursday, the European Commission reports on the aid offered by member countries at the height of the health crisis, and Belgium is one of the least spenders in this area.
By Belga
En 2020, the first year of the coronavirus crisis, Belgium offered public aid equivalent to 0.4% of its GDP to companies supported by the consequences of the pandemic. Only Ireland, Sweden and Finland offered even less aid relative to their GDP. This is the conclusion of an analysis carried out by the European Commission on Thursday.
The Commission’s Scoreboard covers all state aid offered by EU countries in 2020. In the European single market, such aid is subject to strict rules to ensure a level playing field at all times . The aid measures must therefore be submitted to the Commission for approval.
The 27 EU countries and the UK provided €384.33 billion in state aid in 2020. Of this, €227.97 billion was allocated to measures under of the corona crisis.
Relative to their GDP, Poland (3.8%) and Greece (3.6%) granted the highest amount of state aid to businesses hit by the crisis. Ireland and Sweden (0.2% tracked) were the most economical, followed by Finland (0.3%), Belgium (0.4%) and the Netherlands (0.58%).
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager recalls that state aid policy remains a cornerstone of the internal market. Indeed, state aid for non-pandemic purposes in 2020 was in line with previous years, despite the crisis.