Commission scoreboard shows return to normal subsidy levels, following Covid-induced uplift
EU state aid for R&D fell by more than a third—38 per cent—in 2022, the European Commission has revealed.
But this was a return to more normal levels of public subsidy for R&D following an abnormal uplift to counteract the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was matched by the broader pattern in overall state aid.
The EU has strict rules on state aid, to prevent its member states unfairly supporting certain industries or companies. But it allows exceptions in cases of a genuine need to support innovation that would otherwise not take place.
According to the Commission’s 2023 state aid scoreboard, published on 9 April, EU state aid for R&D was €12.9bn in 2020, rising massively to €20.6bn in 2021 before falling back to a normal €12.7bn in 2022.
Over 2017-22, the EU spent a total of €75.2bn on state aid for R&D, it said.
In line with overall pattern
R&D was far from the only activity that received less subsidy in 2022 compared with the prior year.
The Commission said EU member states reported about €228bn in total state aid in 2022, and that this was a 34.8 per cent fall on 2021, following a similar pattern as for R&D.
It said the reductions were “mainly driven by the phase-out of the measures adopted to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic”.