THE STATE AID INSTRUMENT FOR SUSTAINING COMPETITIVENESS IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT CRISES

At the European level, the territorial approach is gaining more and more important in strategic planning, especially in the context of the current health crisis, a crisis that will directly influence the economic, social, financial crises that will follow in the next period. Although traditionally seen as an integral part of Cohesion Policy, space development has received increasing recognition in other EU policies in recent years. Territorial cohesion has been explicitly recognized and we believe that it must remain a priority as a fundamental objective of the EU, together with economic and social cohesion, through the Treaty of Lisbon (art.3 TEU). This basic document proposes as a principle the emphasis on the role of urban areas, functional areas, geographically disadvantaged areas, as well as the construction of macro-regional approaches. Moreover, the European Commission has recently approved the temporary framework for state aid measures to support the European economy in the context of the current COVID-19 epidemic. In this paper, we propose to reflect on the one hand economic realities before the COVID crisis, as well as personal considerations regarding the plan of measures to support the extremely affected business environment during this period.