Dai salvataggi bancari ai crediti deteriorati : la complessa applicazione delle regole sugli aiuti di stato fra flessibilità e rigidità

The paper deals with the Commission’s policy vis‐à‐vis the crisis and the question of whether this action challenged the notion of state aid. In particular it describes the Commission’s role in the management and resolution of the crisis in the banking sector and in particular with regard to non‐performing loan (NPL). The increase in NPLs post‐2008 has put into question the robustness of many European banks and the stability of the whole sector. However there is a n important difference in timing. Apart from a few exceptions (such as Italy) the othe r major European economies took measures to react to the problem of NPL several year ago. These countries were able to manage the impact of financial assistance (state aid) provided to the banks relatively well. The Italian story is different. Unlike the past experience of Spain and Ireland the Italian project, GACS, arrives with the E uropean rules on State aid and bail‐in now in force. So the paper defines different asset relief in EU and discusses the relative merits of the different approaches to asset relief.