12.1.3 Structure of this chapter

The second pillar of the Restructuring Communication provides that (i) both the restructuring costs and the amount of aid should be limited and (ii) a significant own contribution is necessary. It should be noted that (i) and (ii) cannot be completely separated.1 In fact, they are related: the higher the own contribution of the bank, the smaller the amount of aid needed. Burden-sharing thus contributes to a limitation of the amount of aid.

Which factors – other than burden-sharing – ensure that the aid is limited to the minimum necessary? Section 12.2 provides an answer to this question. It should be noted that the fact that the bank pays an adequate remuneration to the State is also relevant in this regard. Indeed, as set out in section 8.6, the remuneration that the beneficiary bank pays to the State constitutes an own contribution by the bank. Thus, the fact that the bank pays an adequate remuneration is not only relevant to the assessment of the proportionality of the State aid measure, it is also relevant to the assessment of the own contribution. The relevance of this relevant characteristic thus transcends the first stage of the compatibility- assessment – this was one of the conclusions of chapter 8. Notwithstanding the relevance of the remuneration to the assessment of the own contribution, it will not be discussed any further in the present chapter, for the simple reason that this relevant characteristic was already extensively discussed in section 8.6.

The main part of this chapter is devoted to burden-sharing. Section 12.3 concerns burden-sharing by the bank itself, while sections 12.4 to 12.8 concern burden-sharing by those who invested in the bank. How can burden-sharing be achieved? And how has the Commission assessed whether there was sufficient burden-sharing in the bank State aid cases and which characteristics were relevant to that assessment? These are the questions that will be addressed in this chapter.