Portrait of Simon Yarak

Simon Yarak Senior Consultant

Simon is a Senior Consultant in Oxera’s State aid and Competition teams. He has advised clients from a broad range of sectors, including transport, health, energy, telecommunications, sports, food and agriculture. His experience in state aid covers a wide range of issues, from compliance with the Market Economy Operator Principle (MEOP) to compatibility of aid and state aid damages. He has advised clients at all stages of the state aid procedure—from compliance to formal investigation, as well as appeals to the General Court.

Beyond state aid matters, Simon also applies his skills to a range of competition issues such as antitrust and mergers.

Prior to joining Oxera, Simon completed a Masters in Economics (MPhil) at the University of Oxford, focusing on microeconomics, public and behavioural economics.

Simon speaks English, French, and Dutch.

Tel: +32 (0) 2 895 90 80

Simon's specialisms include:

Selected
professional experience

  • Advice to a number of European airports on the available state aid measures in order to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the resulting sanitary measures (2020–)

  • Advice to a large company active in the health and pharmaceutical sector on the existing state aid and subsidy regimes in Europe, in the context of its expansion plans (2020–)

  • Analysis as independent experts of the terms of a public guarantee on a loan of a company active in the energy sector, in the context of the construction of a new power generation plant (2020)

  • Advice to the regional authorities of the Brussels Region in the context of the conceptual audit of the separated accounts of the regional agency in charge of waste collection (Bruxelles-Propreté) (2019–20)

  • Advice to a large company active in the food and agriculture sector in the context of the notification of investment aid to the European Commission, for the construction of a new production site (2019–20)

  • Advice to a large company active in the sector of medical devices on alleged violation of its intellectual property by a competitor (2019–20)

Qualifications

  • MPhil Economics, University of Oxford, UK

  • BA Economics and Management, University of Namur, Belgium


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Latest Insights:  Simon Yarak

Agenda
23 minute read
Depiction of Caught offside? The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation and European football clubs

Caught offside? The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation and European football clubs

There have already been two well-publicised requests for the Commission to use its ex officio powers under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), to investigate alleged distortive subsidies granted to…
Agenda
16 minute read
Depiction of Laying the tracks for the regulation of foreign subsidies: revisiting the acquisition of Vossloh Locomotives by CRRC

Laying the tracks for the regulation of foreign subsidies: revisiting the acquisition of Vossloh Locomotives by CRRC

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) becomes applicable this year. To assess its potential impact, we ask: what might have happened had the Regulation been applied to the acquisition of…

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