The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it was approving a five-billion-euro French government-guaranteed loan for the automobile group Renault to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. On April 24, the French Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced that this loan was under study. It should help Renault "get the cash it urgently needs to cope with the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic," said European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition, in a press release.
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The European Commission more flexible
"We have cooperated closely with France to ensure that this support is put in place as quickly and efficiently as possible within the framework of European competition rules," added Margrethe Vestager.
In normal times, European rules on state aid are very strict and the European Commission only gives the green light in a drip: the idea is indeed not to subsidize wrongly and through unsustainable companies at the expense of others more competitive.
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But since the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing containment shutting down whole swathes of the economy in the EU, the European Commission has decided to be much more flexible so as not to not threaten the existence of businesses and the jobs that depend on them.