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Vol. 37 (2017)
General Articles

European „Ghost Airports": EU Law Failure or Policy Failure? The Need for Economic Analysis in State Aid Law

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  • Jakub Kociubiński
Jakub Kociubiński
University of Wrocław, Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics
okładka

Published 2017-12-31

Keywords

  • air transport,
  • airports,
  • economic analysis,
  • EU law,
  • investment aid,
  • state aid
    • ...More
    Less

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How to Cite

European „Ghost Airports": EU Law Failure or Policy Failure? The Need for Economic Analysis in State Aid Law. (2017). Polish Yearbook of International Law, 37, 163-184. https://doi.org/10.7420/pyil2017g

Abstract

Wasteful spending of public funds, leading to the creation of “ghost airports”, is often described as a regulatory failure and a major defciency in European State aid control. It is pointed out that decisions to build or upgrade an airport are often ill-conceived, poorly implemented, and without economic justifcation. This raises the question whether European law, namely its State aid control system, contains inherent flaws or whether the European Commission’s decision-making process can be improved by increasing reliance on objective economic reasoning under the existing legal framework. Tis article provides an analysis of the decision-making problems leading to failed aid efforts; of the role of the economic approach in State aids; and of the standard of economic assessment required in State aid cases. The article concludes with de lege ferenda postulates.

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