European Commission Approves Slovakia's Regional Aid Map until 2027

European Commission Approves Slovakia's Regional Aid Map until 2027

Brussels, September 16 (TASR-correspondent) – In line with EU rules on state aid, the European Commission on Thursday approved Slovakia’s map for granting regional aid between January 2, 2022 and December 31, 2027.

Slovakia’s regional aid map is one of the first maps to be approved by the EC as part of revised directives on regional aid. The Commission approved the same map for Hungary on Thursday as well.

The revised regional aid directives were adopted by the EC on April 19, 2021 and will take effect as of January 1, 2022. They enable member states to help the most disadvantaged European regions to catch up with more developed ones in terms of economic prosperity, incomes and unemployment. These are the EU’s main goals in the field of coherence.

The directives will provide member states with better opportunities to support regions facing transformation or structural challenges, such as depopulation, and they’ll fully assist green and digital transformation projects.

Slovakia’s regional aid map stipulates the regions eligible for regional investment aid. It also sets the maximum amount of state aid that can be granted to a single beneficiary, expressed as a percentage of the eligible investment costs.

In line with the revised regional aid directives, regions eligible for regional investment aid are home to 87.97 percent of the Slovak population. These regions are among the most disadvantaged regions in the EU, with GDP per capita below 75 percent of the EU average.