Brussels, 20/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Justice found against France, in case C-549/09 on Thursday 20 October, for failing to recover, within the time prescribed, aid incompatible with the common market which it had paid out to fish farmers and fishermen in 2000 for damages suffered following the shipwreck of the Erika and storms.
In a decision of 14 July 2004, the Commission declared aid (reduction of social security and financial charges and exoneration from state duties) granted by France in 2000 as legal. This aid was granted to fish farmers in six departments along the Atlantic coast, from Finistère to the Gironde, in compensation for damage suffered as a result of pollution from the shipwreck of the oil tanker Erika and a violent storm in December 1999. However, the Commission deemed the same aid granted to fish farmers in other departments between 15 April and 15 July to be incompatible with the common market, deciding that these fish farmers had not been affected by the aforementioned events. Similarly, it deemed illegal French measures reducing social security charges for French fishermen as a whole from 15 April to 15 October 2000. These measures were designed to compensate the fall in sales of fisheries products following the shipwreck of the Erika. In its decision, the Commission called on France to recover the operating aid deemed incompatible with the internal market, plus interest. In 2008, after several exchanges of letters, the French authorities informed the Commission that a study conducted on the 41 enterprises concerned had found that some had gone out of business and others were in dire economic straits. The Commission rejected these arguments and referred the matter to the Court on 23 December 2009.
In its ruling, the Court stated that, when the action was lodged, that is, five years after the 2004 decision, France had still not recovered the aid complained of. Nor had it informed the Commission of measures taken to carry out the decision within the set timescale of two months from the time of notification. Furthermore, although, during the procedure, France raised certain practical difficulties in recovering the aid, it did not argue that it was quite impossible to carry out the decision - the only argument that can be raised against an action for failure to fulfil an obligation. Consequently, the Court found against France under EU law. (FG/transl.rt)