§ Lord Inglewoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they believe that there should be greater flexibility in state aid rules to allow specific economic emergencies, such as those that occurred in Cumbria in 2001, to be addressed. [HL30]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)Agricultural state aid rules are put in place to prevent member states giving aid which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings. We support the Commission in applying the rules consistently across the EU.
Regarding non-agricultural state aid, the Government consider that the block exemption regulations and the current Commission guidelines, including that for rescue and restructuring, provide sufficient avenues for aid to be paid in most such circumstances.