On Friday 22 November, the European Commission concluded that a €65 million injection of German public capital into casino operator Westdeutsche Spielbanken GmbH & Co. KG (WestSpiel) did not comply with EU state aid rules. Germany must recover the incompatible aid, including interest.
The Commission’s investigation, launched in December 2019, aimed to determine whether the public funding granted by Germany to WestSpiel complied with EU state aid rules.
Two measures in favour of WestSpiel taken by NRW.BANK (100% owned by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia) are targeted: annual coverage of losses from 2009 to 2015 (€63.6 million) and a capital injection in 2015 (€64.8 million).
The Commission concluded that the annual loss cover did not constitute State aid (Article 107, Paragraph 1 of the Treaty), as it did not confer an economic advantage on WestSpiel.
Conversely, it considered that the capital injection was incompatible with EU state aid rules. In particular, the measure is imputable to the State because of the structure of NRW.BANK and the participation of the State in its decisions. In addition, the measure confers an ‘economic advantage’ on WestSpiel, as the decision to inject additional capital into a company despite its persistently negative financial position would not have been taken by a comparable private investor.
On this basis, the Commission ordered Germany to recover €64.8 million, plus interest, from WestSpiel.
Further information: https://aeur.eu/f/efv (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)