Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2019:647
Date: 2019-07-29
Language of the case: Italian
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy) lodged on 11 June 2018 — Arriva Italia Srl and Others v Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti (Case C-385/18) Language of the case: Italian Referring court Consiglio di Stato Parties to the main proceedings Applicants: Arriva Italia Srl, Ferrotramviairia SpA, Consorzio Trasporti Aziende Pugliesi (CO.TRA.P) Defendant: Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti Questions referred In the factual and legal circumstances set out above, does a measure involving the statutory allocation of EUR 70 million for the benefit of an operator in the rail transport sector, in accordance with the conditions laid down by Law No 208 of 28 December 2015 (Article 1(867)), as amended by Decree-Law No 50 of 24 April 2017, and the subsequent transfer of that operator to another economic operator, without a competitive tender procedure and for no consideration, constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union? If so, is it necessary to establish whether the aid in question is, in any event, compatible with EU law, and what are the consequences of failure to give notification of the aid for the purposes of Article 10[8](3) TFEU? ____________