PARIS: Germany’s massive financial support scheme for businesses grappling with the economic fallout of Russia’s aggression of Ukraine is in line with European Union rules, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

Berlin’s plan of paying up to 49 billion euros ($52 billion) to companies across sectors to help them pay electricity and natural gas bills is “necessary, appropriate and proportionate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a member state”, the Commission said in a statement.

The EU executive, therefore, said it cleared the support scheme, which is part of a wider policy of the German government that some EU members have criticised as unfair with regard to free competition within the bloc’s internal market.

The policy is backed by a temporary crisis framework adopted by the EU in March in reaction to the war and soaring inflation, enabling national governments to take protectionist measures for their economies.