Newly established private debtor criterion within the state aid law system and the system of the market economy operator criterion
Abstract
The article deals with the newly established private debtor criterion within the state aid law system and the system of the market economy operator criterion, i.e. the criterion used to assess whether or not an undertaking has been favoured. In the first part, the author sets out the objectives of his article.
In the second part, the author defines the basic features of the concept of state aid. In the third part, the division of the market economy operator criterion into the private investor, private creditor and private seller criteria is presented, as well as a description of the historical circumstances of their adoption.
The fourth section then defines the relationships of the criteria in relation to each other. The fifth section describes the case law that has defined the new private debtor criterion, analyses the reasoning of the CJEU and addresses some of the key issues raised by the new criterion.