62022CJ0163_INF
Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 22 June 2023 –Gmina Miasto Gdynia and Port Lotniczy Gdynia-Kosakowo v Commission
(Case C‑163/22 P) (
1
)
(Appeal – State aid – Airport infrastructure – Public funding granted to the Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport – Decision declaring the aid measure incompatible with the internal market and ordering its recovery – Identification of the advantage and determination of the amount of the aid to be repaid – Principles of the protection of legitimate expectations, legal certainty, effective judicial protection, sound administration and sincere cooperation – Procedural rights of the appellants)
1.
Appeal – Reply of the intervener – Ground challenging findings of the judgment under appeal which are not covered by the appeal – Inadmissibility
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Arts 169(1) and 178(1))
(see paragraphs 27-30)
2.
Aid granted by a Member State – Concept – Grant of an advantage to the beneficiaries – Contributions to the capital of a company responsible for the management of an airport which are intended to finance the project to set up that airport – Company receiving those contributions not the owner of the land or the airport infrastructure – Irrelevant
(Art. 107(1) TFEU)
(see paragraphs 45-59)
3.
Aid granted by a Member State – Recovery of unlawful aid – Restoration of the prior situation – Calculation of the amount to be recovered – Obligation on the Commission to fix an amount actually corresponding to the real advantage of the aid – Scope
(Art. 108 TFEU)
(see paragraph 61)
4.
Appeal – Grounds – Specific criticism of a point of the General Court’s reasoning necessary
(Art. 256(1) TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Arts 168(1)(d) and 169(2))
(see paragraph 77)
5.
Appeal – Grounds – Incorrect assessment of the facts and evidence – Inadmissibility – Review by the Court of the assessment of the facts and evidence – Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted – Review by the Court of the legal classification given to the facts of the dispute – Whether permissible
(Art. 256(1), second subpara., TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.)
(see paragraphs 79, 80, 99)
6.
Acts of the institutions – Withdrawal – Unlawful acts – Commission decisions on State aid – Decision declaring aid incompatible with the internal market – Adoption of a new decision declaring State aid in part compatible with the internal market – Whether permissible – Infringement of the principle of legitimate expectations – None
(Art. 108 TFEU)
(see paragraphs 83-93)
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the appeal;
2.
Orders Gmina Miasto Gdynia and Port Lotniczy Gdynia-Kosakowo sp. z o.o. w likwidacji to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
3.
Orders the Republic of Poland to bear its own costs.
(
1
)	OJ C 191, 10.5.2022.