This article aims to explain the variation in duration of preliminary investigations in the state aid notification procedure. While this procedure is guided by objective standards, preliminary investigations result in an overwhelming majority of cases being approved in combination with a large variation in duration. This study explores the explanatory power of political and managerial factors at the member state and state aid case level to account for this variation. Based on multilevel regression analysis of a newly created dataset, results show that both political and managerial factors at the state aid case level affect the duration of preliminary investigations. No evidence was found for member state level factors having an effect.

中文翻译：

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获得欧盟委员会批准的国家援助：解释国家援助通知程序中初步调查的持续时间*

本文旨在解释国家援助通知程序中初步调查期限的变化。尽管此程序以客观标准为指导，但初步调查导致绝大多数案件获得批准，同时持续时间差异很大。本研究探讨了成员国和州援助案例层面的政治和管理因素的解释力，以解释这种变化。基于对新创建的数据集的多级回归分析，结果表明，国家援助案件层面的政治和管理因素都会影响初步调查的持续时间。没有证据表明成员国层面的因素会产生影响。