EU rescue and restructuring state aid guidelines

Undertakings in difficulty, havingexhausted all market options, may resort to State aid to rescue and/orrestructure its operations in order to return to viability. the author lookscloser into the opportunity for such undertakings to change within so as toabandon practices which may have represented at least one of the roots of thedeficiencies leading them to difficulties. The stringent rules of rescue andrestructuring of firms in difficulties provide a second chance to restore theirbusiness, account of debts, take stock of actions and potentially rise again.Yet, the overall restructuring given as a second chance by the State aid andthe role of the state, should not present a carte blanche for old policiesand approaches to be repeated with the taxpayers’ money. The restructuringshould also be a stock-taking opportunity, an internal scrutiny where thecorporate culture and the governance of the undertaking changes as well. Thereshould be room to (re)consider corporate governance and audit of corporateculture as elements of restructuring process as well as restructuring plans, toprevent the undertaking on the receiving end of State aid to lapse again. Beinggiven a second chance, applying practices and exercising behaviourthat (may) have lead the undertaking to its difficulties, is not a guarantee ofsuccessful restructuring and return to viability but may, indeed, represent aninternal subjective peril to the objective restructuring goals to be achieved.Hence, the author explores whether non-tangible elements such as an enhancedcorporate governance and change of corporate culture, should be introduced asmandatory in the course of undertaking restructuring. The author does not probeinto corporate governance and corporate culture as such, but perceivesthem as welcoming factors to achieve the desired outcome of restructuring aid,namely a successful return to viability using restructuring aid.