Hacker News Reader

Comment by znpy | Hacker News Reader

Aren't state aids forbidden in the EU?

> A company which receives government support gains an advantage over its competitors. Therefore, the Treaty generally prohibits State aid unless it is justified by reasons of general economic development. To ensure that this prohibition is respected and exemptions are applied equally across the European Union, the European Commission is in charge of ensuring that State aid complies with EU rules.

https://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/overview/index_en...

Not at all. Even the ECB is buying company bonds since the financial crisis. The first "source" I found is in German only unfortunately: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wertpapierkaufprogramme_des_Eu...

Not for bailouts of struggling business (of special importance) if I understand it correctly.

How is it not unfair advantage?

If you let a business keep trying again and again, yes it offers unfair advantage over companies in other countries which might not have funds to support their companies.

One who flies the highest, falls the highest - these companies remain unaffected by small cities but when large one strucks these are getting bailed out.

Historically, only if the company wasn't French. Now it seems it's a free-for-all, unsurprisingly.

She who pays the piper calls the tune

That “she” is very forced.

Ye?

No need to be so formal!

I assume it’s a Merkel reference.

Not at all, “she” is Angela Merkel. EU policy on anything, no matter what was previously written down, is whatever she wants it to be because Germany pays all the EU’s bills.

I see at least 4 people didn’t get it either, Americans are so insular.

I'm not American, it's just a common expression that starts with "he", not "she".

I guess I should've paid more attention to the context...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com