This contribution illustrates the European Commission's reliance on EU state aid rules to pursue a complex mix of competition and regulatory objectives in the framework of the financial crisis. Section 1 sketches the framework that enabled the Commission to review bailout plans and condition...

Since five years now, the financial crisis dominates the EU agenda. What started as the tail of the US subprime crisis turned into a “systemic” issue with the freezing of the wholesale funding market subsequent to Lehman Brothers' filing for Chapter 11 protection on September 15, 2008 (at...

The European Union was once portrayed as powerless in the face of the financial crisis. In fact, as apparent from this contribution, it has been at the forefront of the coordination of the rescue plans designed by the Member States and of the reform of the financial system. Those two aspects are...