Brussels, 15/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 January, the Advocate General at the European Court of Justice (CJEU) recommended that the Court reject an appeal by Corsican ferry company Société Nationale Corse-Méditerranée (SNCM) against a ruling against it issued in September 2012 by the European General Court (see EUROPE 10686).
If the CJEU follows the line recommended by Advocate General Melchior Wathelet, this will be a blow to SNCM, which is facing financial difficulties and has been taken to court by its rival Corsica Ferries.
In September 2012, in an appeal by Corsica Ferries, the European General Court cancelled a European Commission decision giving the go-ahead to state aid from France for SNCM in 2002, and further aid when it was privatised in 2006. The court ruled that both batches of aid were not allowed under EU rules and must be recovered. Backed by the French state, SNCM appealed, requesting annulment of the General Court's decision.
In a 28-page argument, Wathelet rejects the SNCM's request outright and recommends that the Court of Justice also reject the appeal and require the ferry company and the French state to pay their own and Corsica Ferries France's costs fifty-fifty.
SNCM has been struggling financially for some time. The European Court of Justice recently required it to repay some €440 million of aid it had received from France and from Corsica that is not allowed under the EU state aid rules.
The Advocate General said that the Commission had erred in law and made a clear error of judgment in its view that the approval of the sale of SNCM for a negative price of €158 million was not state aid; that the €8.75 million in capital from CGMF was not state aid; that the advance payment of €38.5 million from CGMF to SNCM was not state aid; and neither was payment of the remainder of the restructuring fee (€15.81 million).
The judge says that the General Court correctly dealt with the appeal from Corsica Ferries that the Commission decision endorsing all the French state aid for SNCM should be annulled. (LC/transl.fl)