Dr Chris Rumford, Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology, Royal Holloway, University of London
	| home | publications | noticeboard |
State aid to industry: Turkey and the Customs Union Intermedia, 1997 State Aid to Industry: Turkey and the Customs Union The introduction of the Customs Union is important for Turkey in two respects. Firstly, it represents a major opportunity for the development of the Turkish economy. Secondly, adoption of EU competition policy will transform the Turkish business environment and the relationship between government and industry. Customs Union and State Aid to Industry examines the far-reaching changes that the Customs Union will bring in this area of industrial policy. Written by an experienced academic researcher the book has three objectives. Firstly, through a detailed study of the relevant EU policies it assesses the potential impact of EU rules on state aid on the Turkish economy. Secondly, it examines the transformed business environment that this will engender, particularly in important sectors of the Turkish economy. Thirdly, it looks at recent trends in EU Member States in order to analyze the effectiveness of EU rules on state aid. From Turkey’s perspective the rules on state aid represent a change to current practices and a restriction on the freedom traditionally enjoyed by the government in distributing assistance through investment incentives and export subsidies. However, this does not mean that Turkey should view the rules on state aid purely as restrictive measures. The introduction of EU state aid policy has also to be viewed from the perspective of the economic opportunities that it offers.