Opinion of the EESC on the revision of the GBER published in the OJ
The Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on the revision of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 on State aid (the “General Block Exemption Regulation”, also known as GBER) has been published in the Official Journal (OJ).
The EESC welcomes the proposal for a revised GBER, in particular its aim to align the GBER with current social, market and technological developments, providing flexibility while ensuring legal certainty.
Concretely, the EESC appreciates the emphasis on simplification, although it argued that the proposal is not ambitious enough in this domain. Furthermore, concerning concrete proposals, it suggests deleting Article 44(3), which exempts training carried out to comply with national mandatory standards from public support. In the opinion of the EESC, this would facilitate access to financial support and strengthen incentives for industry to invest in upskilling and reskilling. In addition, the EESC requests the Commission to reevaluate the measure under Article 24 of the draft proposal, ‘Aid in the form of favourable treatment of remuneration in the form of share options and warrants’, making sure it is consistent with labour legislation, workers’ rights and national rules on wages and social security.
For further information, see the Opinion of the EESC.