Year: 2000
Type: article
Abstract: This paper explores the Commission's use of soft law within the EU state aid regime and how its application of informal policy instruments has evolved since the early 1990s.It argues that developments over the past decade have led to a "hardening" of the regulatory approach applied within the state aid regime, an evolution which seems to run against a more general EU trend towards soft law and "softer" forms of governance.Yet this policy development should not be read simply a trend from hard law to soft law.Rather, the reconfiguration of policy instruments used in the state aid regime reflects the challenges facing and the distinctive characteristics defining this policy area.The paper thus begins by introducing and defining soft law.It then provides an overview of the EU's state aid regime; of the role of discretion in the decision-making process; and of Commission rule-making on state aid matters.The paper concludes by pointing to two legal "events" that show how the Commission's soft law approach has recently changed and by analysing and drawing out some of the implications of this development.
Author: Michelle Cini
Language: English
Topic: EU Law and Policy Analysis
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2137668294