Mr. Patrick Rochford:

Yes, there will be an appeals mechanism. As I said earlier, it should not affect us as greatly as it will other member states because we use the block exemption schemes. This means the agencies and lead Departments are all heavily involved in designing these schemes to ensure they comply with state aid guidelines. Problems tend to arise with ad hocnotified aid projects when the bigger issues arise.
During our EU Presidency, member states were very strong on having an appeals mechanism. They want to be fully informed at all stages and involved throughout the process if the Commission chooses to go to a company. There is nothing here that is going to come as a surprise to us.