Why is the Commission in charge of controlling state aid?
Member States have different traditions of state intervention and different levels of financial resources. The European Commission, as an independent body, is best able to represent the common interest of all European citizens and to control the way national governments use state aid to serve the common interest. Member States have to notify a proposed state aid to the Commission, before it can be implemented. The Commission may authorise the aid, if on balance the presumed benefits for the common interest outweigh the distortions to competition and trade.
