State aid and fiscal capacity of sub-state entities
The doctrine of the Azores case and its application to Basque provincial treasuries
Mariola Urrea Corres
The ruling of the Court of Justice in the annulment appeal filed by the Republic of Portugal against a decision of the European Commission and known as the 'Azores matter' is one of those judicial pronouncements in which what is important is not exactly the ruling. On the contrary, the ruling of the Court of Justice acquires relevance and interest not so much for judging the fiscal capacity of certain sub-state entities of the European Union in relation to the legal regime of State aid, but for the construction of an argument around to the concept of autonomy that, acting as a typological guide, allows us to evaluate at all times whether the existence of a lower tax burden in a regional entity of a Member State constitutes a selective tax measure and, therefore, incompatible with the legal regime of State aid established in the European Union.