Portrait of Nicole Robins

Nicole Robins Partner

Nicole heads Oxera’s State Aid and Subsidy Control practice, and is based in Oxera’s Brussels office. She is an expert in the field of economic and financial analysis in the state aid and subsidy control context.

She leads Oxera’s advice to clients on economic and financial issues associated with a diverse range of state aid matters across sectors including energy, financial services, pharmaceuticals, post and telecoms, transport and sports infrastructure. Her advice covers a broad 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 more generally.

She provides advice on state aid compliance, and advises beneficiaries, complainants and member states during notifications to, and investigations by, the European Commission and in state aid litigation cases in front of the courts. In particular, she has taken part in General Court hearings on state aid matters on several occasions.

Nicole teaches the state aid module on the Postgraduate Diploma in Economics for Competition Law at King’s College London. Nicole has a wide breadth of experience in the field of state aid, and regularly speaks at, and chairs, state aid events. She publishes on state aid matters in the leading competition journals.

Nicole was named Economist of the Year at the Global Competition Review Awards in 2020.

Nicole speaks English.

Tel: +32 (0) 2 793 07 14

Nicole's specialisms include:

Selected
professional experience

  • Leading Oxera’s advice to two government departments on state aid matters relating to funding schemes for developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure (2024–)

  • Led Oxera’s advice to a member state in relation to aid for the development of a first-of-a-kind manufacturing facility for semiconductor chips under the Chips Act, focusing on the assessment of the proportionality of the aid (2023–24)

  • Led Oxera’s advice to a large manufacturer in relation to the notification of aid under the Regional Aid Guidelines, focusing on the assessment of the proportionality of the aid (2022–24)

  • Led Oxera’s advice as to whether a bridge loan that a public authority was seeking to provide to an energy company was in line with the MEOP (2023)

     

  • Expert advice to an energy company in the context of litigation regarding funding measures to support an energy supplier in financial difficulty (2023)

  • Led the Oxera team advising a state-owned company as to whether its proposed investment in telecoms infrastructure would be in line with the MEOP (2023)

Selected
publications

  • Talbot, H. and Robins, N. (2024), ‘Building an industry through state aid and energy auctions: solar power’, Handbook of Energy and Competition Law, Edward Elgar (forthcoming).

  • von Bebenburg, C., Vitelli, R., Mikovic, P. and Robins, N. (2023), ‘Incentivising behavioural change: Subsidies vs regulation’, State Aid and the Energy Transition, Concurrences, No 2-2024.

  • Robins, N. and Couto, F. (2023), ‘Familiar Tools in Foreign Settings: Practical Considerations for Complying with the New Foreign Subsidies Regulation’, Competition Policy International Antitrust Chronicle, May.

  • Robins, N., Burger, A. and Puglisi, L. (2021), ‘The Role of State Aid in Promoting Environmental Sustainability’, in S. Holmes, D. Middelschulte and M. Snoep, Competition Law, Climate Change & Environmental Sustainability, Concurrences, pp. 169–79.

  • Robins, N. and Puglisi, L. (2021), ‘The market economy operator principle: an economic role model for assessing economic advantage’, in L. Hancher and J.J. Piernas Lopéz, Research Handbook on European State Aid Law, Edward Elgar.

  • Bell, J., Eilts, E., Robins, N. and Yarak, S. (2021), ‘Are State Aid Damages Claims Around The Corner? An Economist’s Perspective’, Concurrences, September.

Qualifications

  • MSc Economics and Finance, Warwick Business School, UK

  • BSc Business Economics with Computing, University of Surrey, UK


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