facie, it is based on " the assumption that the lengths of the political and the economic cycles are the same". This assumption is incorrect since political cycles are much shorter than economic cycles and even under rigorous fiscal disciplines policy-makers keep up the positive incentives to grant an "excessive amount of state aid (in comparison to real advantages)". Introducing limitations and controlling state aid is necessary to hinder the issuance of excessive state aids, which is especially relevant in the case of the Union that lacks a strict balanced budget constraint and mainly operates with a single currency (the euro). According to Alberto Heimler and Frédéric Jenny, "State aid provisions are a discipline for member states." However, the Commission may temporarily exempt aids that remedy serious economic disturbances provided the disturbance is narrowly and strictly defined. The European Court of Justice further disciplines the EU member states and enforces the limitation. Introduction of state aid provisions would be beneficial for all countries but governments tend to distance themselves from imposing disciplining devices unless there is an international treaty that does so. For countries that are not part of the EU, aid limitations arise from the World Trade Organization agreements which prohibit subsidies exclusively when they are directed to the distortion of international trade as strictly defined. These agreements also recognize what is known as the actionable subsidies that can be prohibited when the complaining country shows the adverse effect the subsidy has on its interests. In particular, the prohibition may occur when a serious injury is caused on: "the importing country's domestic industry" "rival exporters in a third country trying to compete with a subsidized exporter" "exporters trying to compete with subsidized domestic firms" However, due to the lack of specifications, definitions and in some cases clarifications, the WTO case is highly controversial and more of an exception than a rule. A solution to this would be a more thorough regime somewhat in line with that of the European Union. In that case, the prohibition of state subsidies would occur if the subsidies were anti-competitive and affected international trade. United Kingdom's Subsidy Control regime The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement of December 2020 requires the UK to introduce an alternative state subsidy system. This will be called "Subsidy Control". The new regime will be based on commitments made in Chapter 3 of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The