On Wednesday 24 May, the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled an Italian aid measure authorised by the European Commission and aimed at compensating, using a compensation fund of €130 million, airlines with an Italian operating licence for damage suffered in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In order to be eligible for aid, airlines had to meet, among other things, a minimum remuneration requirement in relation to their employees based in Italy and to employees of other companies involved in their activities (“remuneration equal to or higher than the minimum remuneration established by the national collective agreement applicable to the air transport sector, concluded by the employers’ organisations and trade unions considered to be the most representative at national level”).
The measure was authorised by the European Commission on 22 December 2020 without the Commission first initiating a formal investigation procedure under Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. The Commission found the provision to be compatible with the internal market.
In an action under Article 263 TFEU, Ryanair DAC sought the annulment of the Commission’s decision.
The General Court found, inter alia, that the Commission had failed to set out in a clear and transparent manner the reasons why it considered that it was not faced with serious difficulties in assessing the compatibility of the aid in question with the internal market, or the reasons why it considered that the minimum remuneration requirement did not constitute an infringement of other provisions of Union law.
The General Court, having found that the European Commission had violated the obligation to state reasons imposed by Article 296 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, annulled the Commission’s decision.
Link to the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/713 (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)