The Communication on State Aid Modernisation (SAM) adopted by the European Commission proposes focusing state aid policy on facilitating well-designed aid targeted at market failures and objectives of common European interest. It sets objectives of an ambitious reform package. The main elements of the reform shall be in place by the end of 2013.

The European Commission proposes to modernise state aid control setting out the objectives of an ambitious reform package in a recently adopted Communication on State Aid Modernisation (SAM). In particular, the Communication launches a far-reaching reform process and identifies three main and closely linked objectives. Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy highlighted that the reform should help public authorities make more efficient use of scarce public resources and design public support to firms so that it helps achieve the EU's growth objectives while limiting competition distortions. In April 2011, a new Regulation was adopted establishing a clear threshold for the EU state aids.

Among the objectives proposed by the Commission, state aid control shall support sustainable growth and contribute to improving the quality of public spending by discouraging aid that does not bring real added-value and distorts competition. In addition to this first objective, state aid enforcement shall focus more on cases with the biggest impact on the internal market. Finally, procedures shall be streamlined to deliver decisions within business-relevant timelines. Also, rules and concepts shall be better explained, including a clarification of the notion of state aid and a modernisation of the Procedural Regulation.

According to the Commission, the SAM initiative is part of a broader goal of a more comprehensive coordination of national economic policies to achieve the common objective of sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth. State aid control also has a strategic role because it helps Member States to improve the quality of their public spending.