The Committee of the Regions (CoR) mostly welcomed the proposals presented by the European Commission to reform state aid procedures. The CoR adopted in November plenary session an opinion on EU State Aid Modernisation which called for the extension of the scope of the enabling regulation and for a clarification of the general block exemption regulation. The Commission proposals presented in December partly meets this demand.

At the November plenary session, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an opinion on EU State Aid Modernisation which called for the extension of the scope of the enabling regulation and for a clarification of the general block exemption regulation. The European Commission's proposals, presented on 5 December, partly meets this demand by exempting state aids for culture and heritage conservation and transport for residents of remote regions, when such aid has a social character. The CoR had, however, also requested a wider exemption for non-profit seeking activities in the social, educational and health areas.

Also, the CoR considers further clarification will be needed in the specific guidelines relating to broadband infrastructure with regards to state aids for selected broadband infrastructure projects. On the other hand, a consensual request of regions and cities is the call for a revised de minimis regulation, which would raise the threshold for the exemption from notification obligation for aid programmes to €500,000 over a period of three tax years (instead of €200,000 as currently ruled).

As next steps, the CoR will discuss and adopt a resolution on the Cohesion Legislative Package recalling all proposals and requests worked out until now, adding specific positions related to the latest development of the inter-institutional negotiations and the ongoing discussions in the Council on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2014-2020 as well as the on going trialogue on the Cohesion Package.