Brussels, 17/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - In Case C-344/12 on 17 October, the European Court of Justice found that Italy has failed to fulfil its obligation to recover state aid granted to aluminium company Alcoa Trasformazioni srl, part of the Alcoa group, in the form of a preferential electricity tariff for two production sites, one in Portovesme in Sardinia and one in Fusina in the Veneto region (see also EUROPE 10427). The initial reduced-rate tariff was set in 1996 for ten years and was authorised by the Commission, which found that the measure did not constitute aid since, at the time in question, it was an ordinary commercial transaction concluded on market terms. The aid was extended twice without being adjusted to take account of market trends and in 2009, the Commission took the view that the purpose of those extensions was to reduce Alcoa's operating costs, thus conferring on it an advantage vis-à-vis its competitors. They thus constituted state aid incompatible with the common market, which Italy was obliged to recover, together with interest, by 20 March 2010. Italy estimated that the total amount to be recovered was €295 million. In the ruling, the Court of Justice says that by that date, the aid had not been recovered in its entirety. On the contrary, the procedure for recovery of the aid was still ongoing after the present action was instigated, that is to say, more than two and a half years after notification of the decision. The court notes: “It is settled case law that the only defence available to a member state against an application by the Commission for a declaration that it has failed to fulfil its obligations is to plead that it was absolutely impossible for it properly to implement the decision in question. Neither in its relations with the Commission before the present action was brought nor in the proceedings before the Court has Italy claimed that it was absolutely impossible for it to implement the decision. It has simply alluded in its communications with the Commission to legal or practical difficulties and to its intention of achieving a negotiated solution with Alcoa.” The Court of Justice therefore found that Italy has failed in its duty to fulfil its obligation to recover the State aid granted to Alcoa in the form of a preferential electricity tariff. (FG/transl.fl)