The European Commission has approved under EU State aid rules Slovakia's map for granting regional aid from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2027.
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The Slovak regional aid map is among the first maps approved by the Commission within the framework of the revised Regional aid Guidelines (“RAG”).
The revised RAG, adopted by the Commission on 19 April 2021 and entering into force on 1 January 2022, enable Member States to support the least favoured European regions in catching up and to reduce disparities in terms of economic well-being, income and unemployment – cohesion objectives that are at the heart of the Union.
They also provide increased possibilities for Member States to support regions facing transition or structural challenges such as depopulation, to contribute fully to the green and digital transitions. At the same time, the revised RAG maintain strong safeguards to prevent Member States from using public money to trigger the relocation of jobs from one EU Member State to another, which is essential for fair competition in the Single Market.
Slovakia's regional aid map defines the Slovak regions eligible for regional investment aid. The map also establishes the maximum aid intensities in the eligible regions. The aid intensity is the maximum amount of State aid that can be granted per beneficiary, expressed as a percentage of eligible investment costs.
Under the revised RAG, regions covering 87.97% of the population of Slovakia will be eligible for regional investment aid. These regions are among the most disadvantaged regions in the EU, with a GDP per capita below 75% of EU average.
Therefore, they are all eligible for aid under Article 107(3)(a) TFEU (so-called ‘a' areas) with the following maximum aid intensities for large enterprises, depending on the GDP per capita of the respective ‘a' areas:
• The region of Západné Slovensko, with a maximum aid intensity for large
enterprises of 30%;
• The region of Stredné Slovensko, with a maximum aid intensity for large
enterprises of 40%;
• The region of Východné Slovensko, with a maximum aid intensity for large enterprises of 50%.
In all those areas, the maximum aid intensities can be increased by 10 percentage points for investments made by medium-sized enterprises and by 20 percentage points for investments made by small enterprises, for their initial investments with eligible costs up to €50 million.
Once a future territorial Just Transition plan in the context of the Just Transition Fund Regulation will be in place, Slovakia has the possibility to notify the Commission an amendment to the regional aid map approved today, in order to apply a potential increase of the maximum aid intensity in the future Just Transition areas, as specified in the revised RAG for ‘a' areas. ■