The role of market failure in state aid analysis under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU: some initial reflections

This paper is a reflection on market failure analysis in EU State aid law. Today, reliance upon market failure analysis is becoming more and more common in the practice of the Commission. Under Article 106(2) TFEU, it appears that market failure has increasingly been conceptualised as a part of the analysis of services of general economic interest (SGEI), which has been the subject to some research. This article will reflect on the meaning this concept in State aid law, and more precisely in the compatibility assessment under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU.