State Aid to Promote Culture and Heritage Conservation: Museums and Other Cultural Institutions as Recipients of EU State Aid

This article addresses the issue of whether EU State aid granted for the purposes of promoting culture and heritage conservation is subject to the prohibition of Article 107(1) TFEU and its derogations. Specifically, the article outlines the problem of “economic activity”, and hence being an “undertaking” insofar as regards bodies operating in the field of culture and heritage conservation (e.g. museums). It covers the European Commission’s approach thereto, together with its decisions made in the field of State aid, as well as the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (particularly examining the impact of the MOTOE decision for the topic at issue). The article offers a critical assessment of the Commission’s approach, positing that it is not in line with Article 107(1) TFEU as it is currently interpreted by the Court, and is at odds with the Commission’s own 2016 Notice on the notion of State aid.