By Bryan Koenig

Law360 (April 10, 2020, 9:30 PM EDT) -- European Union antitrust officials signed off a month ago on the first state aid proposal aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, marking the start of a scramble to approve aid measures that have so far amounted to at least €152 billion ($166 billion).

As of Friday, the European Commission counted 46 state aid decisions signing off on direct grants, loan guarantees and other measures, totaling 58 projects from 21 EU members and the United Kingdom in the face of the pandemic. Member countries aren't required to report the total budget for their projects, but of the ones announced by the commission, a Law360 analysis found €151.9 billion in declared aid.

Denmark became the first to get commission approval on March 12, for a €12 million program to compensate losses of event organizers who had to cancel or postpone gatherings of over 1,000 people.

According to the commission, officials cleared the plan under EU state aid rules within 24 hours of being notified of Denmark's intentions. At the time, the commission said it stood ready "to work with all member states to ensure that possible national support measures to tackle the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus can be put in place in a timely manner, in line with EU rules."

In the month since, the commission has implemented and several times updated a temporary structure on top of its normal state aid apparatus — the initial Denmark project was one of four total that the commission has approved over the past month under existing EU rules for damages springing from "exceptional occurrences." On top of that apparatus, the temporary framework is meant to help member countries shore up economies battered by an outbreak that as of Friday had killed more than 65,000 people in Europe, which had over 745,000 COVID-19 cases total, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Fighting the disease's economic impacts has become the commission's top priority, shuffling resources to rush through state aid approvals as it pumps the brakes on merger reviews. Winning commission approval means that enforcers have signed off on the aid as "necessary, appropriate and proportionate."

In addition to being the first to win approval for a coronavirus-related state aid measure, Denmark has been one of the most active based on the number of measures approved by the commission.

As of Friday, the commission had announced six Danish state aid approvals, including a state loan of up to roughly €200 million for a "travel guarantee fund" that reimburses canceled travel, along with €260 million total in loan and credit guarantees for companies impacted by the pandemic.

Denmark's largest projects so far are a €1.3 billion grant program to cover losses suffered by self-employed workers and a €5.4 billion plan to compensate companies that have lost over 40% of their revenue between March 9 and June 9.

The U.K., still bound by EU state aid rules until it completes its exit from the bloc, has the largest declared state aid program yet cleared by the commission.

On April 6, enforcers signed off on a €50 billion U.K. "umbrella" plan that covers a variety of aid, including direct grants, advance payments, loan guarantees and subsidized public loans with favorable interest rates, as well as support for efforts directly aimed at combating the pandemic itself through research and development, construction and improvement of testing facilities, and production support.

Multiple countries have been cleared for at least €1 billion in aid, based solely on declared amounts. Among those without declared amounts are Germany, cleared for subsidized loans and direct grants with no amount given by the commission. France has been cleared for state guarantees by the French public investment bank for commercial loans and credit lines, along with government guarantees on new bank loans to companies, under a plan the commission said "is expected to mobilize more than €300 billion of liquidity."

As for declared amounts of at least €1 billion, Austria was cleared for a €15 billion plan covering direct grants, advances, loan guarantees and subsidized public loans, and Belgium got approval for a €3 billion project financed by its Flemish regional government offering public loan guarantees in that area.

A €1 billion Croatian plan was approved for zero-interest loans and subsidized interest rate loans. Estonia's government got the go-ahead for €1.75 billion in loan guarantees, and France was approved for €1.2 billion in direct grants from the government to small companies and the self-employed.

There's also a combined €2.2 billion in Greek grants for existing debt obligations and repayable advances. And there's €22 billion from the Polish national bank for public guarantees on investment loans and working capital loans, plus another €700 million in guarantees co-financed by EU funds.

Portugal can dole out €13 billion worth of direct grants and state guarantees for commercial bank investment and working capital loans plus another €3 billion in guarantees for industries impacted by the pandemic, such as tourism and manufacturing. Spain is cleared for €20 billion in guarantees on new loans and refinancing for the self-employed and companies of all sizes, plus its own "umbrella" plan with no budget given for direct grants and other aid. And Sweden has permission for €9.1 billion in new commercial bank loan guarantees primarily for small and midsize companies.

More aid approvals are almost certainly coming. In the most recent announced approval, covering a €115 million Polish plan for direct grants meant to cover loan interest, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager repeated what's become a familiar refrain: "We continue working closely with member states to ensure that national support measures can be put in place in a coordinated and effective way, in line with EU rules."

Under the most recent version of the temporary state aid framework, the commission says bloc members are permitted to give direct grants, with limits for allowed aid that vary by industry, along with loan guarantees, subsidized loans, safeguards for banks channeling state aid, public short-term export credit insurance, wage subsidies, support for coronavirus-related research and development, testing facilities and production, and tax payment deferrals.

--Editing by Aaron Pelc.

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