Brussels, 26/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Reuters reports that the European Commission will unveil a new decision this summer about WestLB, unveiling the new fine the German bank will have to pay the state for having received illegal state aid. The fine is reported to be in excess of a billion euros and hence more than the 808 million euro fine demanded by the Commission on 8 July 1999 to be levied against the state bank.
Just under a year ago, the Court of First Instance cancelled the European Commission's decision (the fine on WestLB). It did not challenge the basis or the principles of the decision (the Commission decided that the two public guarantee schemes from which the bank had benefitted were illegal), but found that the Commission had not given sufficient justification of how it had calculated the size of the fine and therefore instructed the Commission to revise its calculations. WestLB was hoping to see a substantial reduction in the fine following the Court's ruling.