13.5.2 Has the Commission consistently taken into account this relevant characteristic?

A key observation is that although many bank State aid cases are characterised by divestments, only in a few cases, the divestment is specifically aimed at creating a new competitor. Indeed, only in the cases of KBC, ING, LBG, RBS, Ethias, Bank of Ireland and Parex banka, the divestments were aimed at creating a new competitor.1

How can the absence of the relevant characteristic in so many cases be explained? One feature that the Restructuring Decisions on KBC, ING, LBG, RBS, Ethias, Bank of Ireland and Parex banka have in common is that they were all adopted in 2009 and 2010. Decisions that were adopted in later years do not include this type of divestment. This could indicate a change of approach. This, in turn, could explain why this type of divestment does not figure in every restructuring decision. It should, however, be remarked that the Commission never explicitly recognised a change of approach with respect to this type of divestment.

While there may be valid reasons to change the approach towards this specific type of divestment, changing the approach without a clear explanation points at an inconsistency.