Brussels, 29/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - If the European Court of Justice follows the conclusions presented on 29 May by Advocate General Nils Wahl the action taken by the European Commission to impose financial penalties against Germany following the adoption of the “Volkswagen Law”, which protects the car manufacturer against takeover bids, will be rejected.
The Commission has criticised Germany for not complying with a 2007court ruling and for illegally maintaining the Lower Saxony region's blocking share in Volkswagen's capital. The European Commission considers that this provision - a blocking minority granted to a shareholder who holds 20% of the capital, which is the case for the Lower Saxony region - is an obstruction to the free movement of capital in the EU. The Advocate General, however, is of the opposite view. He believes that Germany is “fully complying” with the 2007 decision and explained that “the purpose of the present proceedings is not to determine whether the provision on the blocking minority, considered on its own, infringes EU law, but only whether Germany has complied with the 2007 judgment” and suggests that the Court rejects the action taken by the Commission.
Following the 2007 decision, Germany amended the 1960 “Volkswagen law” getting rid of the first two provisions relating to the representation of public authorities on the supervisory board of Volkswagen AG, and the capping of the voting rights of any individual shareholder at 20% irrespective of the amount of capital controlled. On the other hand, Germany did not amend the third point of contention on the blocking minority taking the view that its ending stemmed from the second point. In its action, the Commission suggests a daily penalty payment of €282,275.20 from the date on which the judgment is delivered in the present case until the 2007 judgment has been complied with and a daily lump sum payment of € 31,114.72 multiplied by the number of days between delivery of the 2007 judgment and the date on which Germany complies with the 2007 judgment or, failing that, the date of judgment in the present case.
If the Court does not follow these conclusions and finds in favour of the Commission, Advocate General Wahl proposes that the Court order Germany to make a daily penalty payment of € 81,100.80 from the date on which judgment is delivered in the present case until the 2007 judgment has been complied with and a daily lump sum payment of € 8,870.40 multiplied by the number of days between delivery of the 2007 judgment and the date of the judgment in the present case. (OL/transl.fl)