On Wednesday 20 December, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) overturned the decision of the European Commission in several joined cases ordering the recovery of Spanish state aid to the television operator Retegal, on the grounds of an insufficient statement of reasoning.
Between 2005 and 2009, the Spanish public authorities granted public support to television operators to facilitate the switchover from analogue to digital television across a large proportion of the national territory.
On 19 June 2013, European Commission adopted a decision, following a complaint from SES Astra, a European satellite operator, declaring this public support contrary to EU state aid rules and ordered some of the money to be paid back to the Spanish State (see EUROPE 10870). Spain, a number of autonomous communities and digital terrestrial television operators then brought an appeal before the General Court of the European Union (EGC) to have the decision overturned. This appeal was rejected on 26 November 2015, as the court considered that the principle of technological neutrality had not been respected (see EUROPE 11439).
An appeal to the CJEU to overturn the judgment of the General Court then followed. The judges rejected the appeals in several cases, but cancelled the Commission's decision ordering the recovery of the funding paid to Retegal by the Autonomous Community of Galicia.
They found that the Commission had not established how the factual and legal situation of companies active in the broadcasting sector and utilising terrestrial technology was comparable to that of businesses active in other sectors using different technologies. They therefore concluded that the Commission did not sufficiently demonstrate selective aid in favour of Retegal to the detriment of other operators. The facts were therefore insufficient to declare that this public support was unlawful under EU law. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)