Further State aid reforms in full swing

After EU State aid law already underwent a significant change in 2025 with the introduction of the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (“CISAF”) (see our Noerr Insight on this subject), further practice-relevant developments to several EU State aid law instruments are expected in 2026. This year is therefore likely to be marked by reforms to existing State aid tools.

Notably, the European Commission (the “Commission”) is currently driving a number of initiatives that aim to further develop the European Union’s State aid framework and adapt it to new industrial and economic policy challenges. This article focuses on the reform of the General Block Exemption Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, “GBER”), the revision of the Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines (“R&R Guidelines”) and the review of the State aid rules for banks in difficulty.

Ongoing consultation on the GBER reform

The reform efforts planned for 2026 are being launched with a consultation on the revision of the GBER. In February 2026, the Commission published a draft of the revised GBER and invited stakeholders to submit comments and contributions.

The GBER allows Member States to grant certain categories of State aid without prior approval by the Commission, provided that the conditions laid down in the Regulation are met. This significantly accelerates the implementation of public support measures.

The current reform proposal is the most far‑reaching update of the GBER since it first entered into force. Its main objectives are to simplify its application and reduce administrative burdens. At the same time, the GBER is to be aligned more closely with current social, market‑specific and technological developments. The proposed changes include:

• Simplified conditions for small amounts of aid, such as for R&D or environmental protection, regardless of the size of the company.
• Addressing the needs of SMEs more effectively, for example with more flexible risk-finance instruments.
• Granting operating aid for renewable energy will become simpler and possible on a larger scale. For example, the annual overall budget for such aid schemes will no longer be limited to €300 million, while a simple cap per beneficiary remains applicable.
• Abolishing the obligation to evaluate aid schemes with large budgets.

The consultation will run until 23 April 2026. Until then, interested companies and other stakeholders may submit their views on the proposed amendments to the Commission. The revised GBER is scheduled for adoption by the end of 2026.

Extension and revision of the R&R Guidelines and review of State aid rules for banks in difficulty

In parallel, the Commission is also reviewing the current status of the 2014 R&R guidelines. These Guidelines set out the (strict) conditions under which Member States may grant temporary State aid to undertakings in financial distress. The rationale for these stringent conditions is that rescue and restructuring aid is among the most distortive form of State support.

As the R&R Guidelines were originally due to expire at the end of 2025, the Commission has initially extended their validity until 31 December 2026. The extension is intended to ensure a seamless regulatory transition whilst the Commission prepares a more comprehensive review.

A central element of this review will be an update of the definition of an “undertaking in difficulty”. The aim is, among other things, to clarify what exactly this term means and to facilitate its practical application. Based on statements by Commission officials, the review is also meant to ensure that start‑ups and growth‑stage companies are not captured where, from an economic perspective, they are not actually in financial difficulty. Any change to the definition of an undertaking in difficulty would have implications beyond the R&R Guidelines since numerous other State aid instruments exclude undertakings in difficulty from their scope.

The adoption of the revised R&R Guidelines is scheduled for Q4 2026.

As part of the ongoing reform agenda, the Commission has also published a call for evidence on the revision of the State aid rules for banks in difficulty, which were last updated in 2013.

The aim is to modernise and streamline the rules so that they reflect recent regulatory developments, in particular the reform of the framework for crisis management in the banking sector and for deposit insurance (Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance – the “CMDI Framework”). The Commission is expressly seeking greater coherence with the CMDI framework. The six State aid communications currently in force are to be consolidated into a single communication in order, among other things, to make the rules easier to apply and more transparent.

Interested market participants may submit their views until 14 April 2026; a public consultation on a draft text is planned for later this year.

Outlook

These initiatives show that EU State aid law is currently undergoing a phase of intensive further development. Companies should closely monitor this process so they can prepare at an early stage for any new requirements. In particular, the envisaged amendments to the GBER and the R&R Guidelines will in the future significantly shape the scope for public funding measures and the State aid assessment of support granted to many undertakings.

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