The economic crisis brings a number of problems for businesses. Their continued existence often depends on timely and adequate financial assistance from the state. The forms of public support that are currently used in the Czech and Slovak Republics are the subject of this paper.
The possibilities of public support resulting from membership in the European Union and the national systems of subsidies, state guarantees, investment support or various tax breaks that can be used in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic are compared to provide a theoretical perspective on the implementation of individual legal instruments and their possible limits..