Local and regional authorities (LRAs) are greatly affected by policy developments in the application of State aid rules to services of general economic interest (SGEI). In order to analyse this aspect, this study aims to:

1. Examine difficulties that LRAs maybe facing with particular focus on the easiness and clarity of key concepts (eg. economic activity, undertaking, reasonable profit etc.) to assess whether a given service qualify as SGEI or not.

2. Analyse the feedback submitted by public authorities and relevant stakeholders in their country reports in relation to implementation of SGEI Decision, with a view to identifying challenges for regions and cities while also assessing whether and how LRAs are involved in the drafting of the country Report

3. Make proposals for possible legislative changes that would facilitate implementation of State aid rules in the area of SGEI. These findings will feed into a possible outlook opinion on a policy check for the SGEI which could solidly inform Commission’s evaluation with real evidence from the ground.

The study is substantially based on desk/literature research and also includes interviews with representatives of Member States and regions (in particular with those that report problems with the implementation of the Decision and the Framework).
The study was conducted in consortium with Spatial Foresight GmbH and OIR GmbH.