Contact

Nicole Robins

Oxera (Brussels)

Partner

Nicole Robins is a partner with Oxera, based in Brussels where she heads Oxera’s State Aid practice and is the partner in charge of Oxera’s Brussels office. She advises clients on a wide range of economic and financial issues in state aid cases relating to assessments of the market economy operator principle (MEOP), the application of state aid rules for services of general economic interest (SGEI), and the compatibility of aid. Her advice covers a broad range of sectors including energy, financial services, pharmaceuticals, post and telecoms, transport and sports infrastructure. Nicole advises clients on state aid compliance, and she also advises beneficiaries, complainants and member states during investigations by the European Commission and in state aid litigation cases in front of the courts. In particular, she has given expert economic evidence in front of the General Court on state aid matters on a number of occasions. Nicole also teaches the state aid module on the King’s College Economics for Competition Law postgraduate course.

Contact

Linked authors

Roberto Alimonti

Oxera (Rome)

Italy 1 contribution 48 visits

Dorian Beauchêne

Oxera (Paris)

France 1 contribution 1140 visits

Joseph Bell

Oxera (Oxford)

United Kingdom 2 contributions 1903 visits

Jan Bouckaert

University of Antwerp

Belgium 1 contribution 2368 visits

Hélène Bourguignon

Oxera (Paris)

France 4 contributions 3025 visits

6655 | Events

9 Nov 2021 Brussels Brussels Antitrust in Home Office - Photo exhibition See documents

19 Apr 2021 Webinar Competition Policy and the EU Green Deal See documents

14 Apr 2020 WEBINAR WEBINAR #3 State aid in the COVID-19 context See documents

30 Jun 2016 Bruxelles Subsidies, Loans and public investments – What’s new under the revised EU State aid rule? See documents

Articles

2635 Bulletin

Laura Puglisi, Nicole Robins, Jostein Kristensen The EU Commission publishes its draft on the climate, energy and environmental aid guidelines

7 June 2021 141

On 7 June, the European Commission published its draft climate, energy and environmental aid guidelines (CEEAG). More comprehensive than the previous version, these guidelines cover new technologies (such as hydrogen) and state aid for the phasing out of coal. We explore the role of economic (...)

Laura Puglisi, Nicole Robins, Maurice De Valois Turk The EU Parliament and Council debate the Commission’s proposed regulation on foreign subsidies, which covers subsidies granted by third countries that have the potential to distort competition in the EU

5 May 2021 57

Third country, second thoughts? The EU’s foreign subsidies regulation The European Parliament and the Council are currently debating the European Commission’s proposed regulation on foreign subsidies, which covers subsidies granted by third countries that have the potential to distort (...)

Aleksei Matiushenko, Nicole Robins The EU General Court annuls the Commission’s decision that Ireland had granted illegal State aid of at least €13 billion (Apple)

15 July 2020 115

In July 2020, the EU General Court annulled the European Commission’s decision that Ireland had granted illegal state aid of at least €13bn to Apple through two tax rulings. The General Court’s judgment in the Apple case was one of the most keenly awaited judgments in the area of state aid. (...)

Nicole Robins, Laura Puglisi, Roberto Alimonti The EU Commission introduces new State aid rules to tackle the effects of the crisis by extending the Temporary Framework due to COVID-19

8 May 2020 48

On 8 May 2020, the European Commission introduced new state aid rules to tackle the effects of the crisis by extending the Temporary state aid Framework. Under specific conditions, member states can provide aid in the form of subordinated debt, hybrid capital and equity in line with state aid (...)

Nicole Robins The EU General Court annuls the Commission’s decision that a football club received over €20 million in unlawful State aid (Valencia Club)

12 March 2020 158

The General Court has annulled the European Commission’s decision that Valencia Club de Fútbol (Valencia CF) received over €20m in unlawful state aid. Oxera undertook the financial analysis that supported Valencia CF’s appeal to the General Court, and which underpinned the annulment of the (...)

Nicole Robins Tax rulings: An overview of EU state aid cases

1 August 2019 1234

It is a pleasure to introduce this special issue of the e-Competitions Bulletin relating to the State aid investigations of corporate tax arrangements. Since June 2013, when the European Commission started a number of investigations of the tax rulings practices of Member States, the tax arrangements of multinationals with subsidiaries or branches in the EU have faced scrutiny by the Commission.

Mohammed Khalil, Nicole Robins The EU Commission publishes its largest-ever negative State aid decision regarding tax arrangements, requiring Ireland to recover €13 billion of aid (Apple)

30 August 2016 882

I. Introduction 1. On 30 August 2016, the European Commission announced its largest-ever negative State aid decision requiring Ireland to recover €13bn of aid (plus interest) from Apple as a result of its tax rulings with Ireland . In the year leading up to this announcement, the Commission (...)

3935 Review

Michaël Karpenschif, Patricia Lampreave Márquez, Sonsoles Centeno, Nicole Robins, Alexandre Maitrot de la Motte, Ina Lunneryd, Julien Pellefigue Tax rulings and State aid

May 2023 2290

The relationship between State aid control and tax law in the European Union is longstanding and conflictual. The European Commission has used its State aid control powers to address illegal aid provided through tax arrangements and combat discriminatory tax measures. However, this approach (...)

Joseph Bell, Enno Eilts, Nicole Robins, Simon Yarak Are State aid damages claims around the corner? An economist’s perspective

September 2021 1645

To date, there have been only a few successful damages claims following the granting of incompatible State aid, despite similar damages claims being common in other areas of competition law. A study published in 2019 by the European Commission highlights that the burden of proof for claimants (...)