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Law360 (March 23, 2020, 6:31 PM EDT ) Europe's antitrust enforcer has approved a slew of state aid programs aimed at helping member states grapple with the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, which has sickened more than 175,000 people across the continent.
One of the aid schemes approved Sunday will see the much-afflicted Italy — which has seen more cases than anywhere outside China — put €50 million ($53.8 million) toward the production of ventilators and personal protection equipment such as masks for health care staff.
"These are very difficult times, especially in Italy," Margrethe Vestager, European Commission competition policy head, said in a statement. "We have to do what we can to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on human lives and livelihoods."
On Monday, Italy's death toll surpassed 6,000, which is nearly twice the deaths reported by China, and doctors in the southern European country have reported that the more than 60,000 COVID-19 cases have strained their health care system nearly to the breaking point.
The European Commission also greenlighted several other aid schemes over the weekend aimed at helping states weather the blow to the economy delivered by shutdowns intended to stem the spread of infection.
Portugal got permission for €3 billion ($3.22 billion) in loan guarantees to help small and medium-sized businesses stay afloat amid the outbreak. The funds will be used to guarantee loans doled out to businesses in the tourism, travel, restaurant and event sectors.
As of Monday, Portugal had just over 2,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly two dozen deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Germany also received the go-ahead with two economic aid measures, one that provides a 90% government guarantee for business loans to companies of all sizes and another that will allow a government-run bank to team up with private banks to "provide larger loans as a consortium."
Germany is rounding the corner on 29,000 confirmed cases and more than 100 deaths, and Chancellor Angela Merkel entered self-quarantine Sunday after being exposed to the coronavirus.
Vestager said that "the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak is severe," and that the commission is working with bloc members to "manage this impact as much as we can."
To that end, the European Commission unveiled a new temporary framework Thursday to make it easier for member states to prop up their economies as they work to prevent the coronavirus from flourishing in their states.
Noting that the "entire EU economy is experiencing a serious disturbance," the commission said the new framework will allow states to "use the full flexibility foreseen under state aid rules to support the economy in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak."
The framework creates an outline for several types of state aid: state-guaranteed business loans, subsidized loans that see the government take on part of the interest, direct grants, tax advantages and others that they hope will keep member state economies afloat.
"In particular, they can adopt measures that fall outside the scope of state aid control, such as national funds granted to health services or other public services to tackle ... COVID-19," the commission said.
--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.
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