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ARTICLE · 10 OCTOBER 2019

A "Moral Hazard"? A Look At State Aid And "Bailouts"

Gowling WLG
Gowling WLG
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Last week, Boris Johnson refused Thomas Cook's request for financial assistance from the Government, reportedly to avoid a "moral hazard" for other failing businesses.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Bernardine Adkins
Bernardine Adkins
Sean Giles
Sean Giles
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Last week, Boris Johnson refused Thomas Cook's request for financial assistance from the Government, reportedly to avoid a "moral hazard" for other failing businesses. Yet, when Condor - a German subsidiary of Thomas Cook - requested a reported €200m of financial assistance in that same week, the German government is reported to have provided a €320m bridging loan to Condor. What gives?

In this podcast, we separate soundbites from State aid - and take a look at what the EU State aid rules mean for firms facing financial difficulty.

Transcript

Sean Giles: My name is Sean Giles I am an Associate in the EU, Trade and Competition team here at Gowling WLG and I am sitting with Bernardine Adkins who a Partner and Head of the team. We are on a cloudy Friday morning in a room without any windows recording this podcast and Bernardine is absolutely desperate for a coffee so we had better press on otherwise it could get very nasty!

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