Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 6 July 2017 — SNCM v Commission
(Case T‑1 v 15)
(State aid — Aid measures implemented by France in favour of SNCM — Restructuring aid and measures taken in the context of a privatisation plan — Private investor in a market economy test — Decision declaring the aid unlawful and incompatible with the internal market — Social policy of the Member States — Re-opening of the formal investigation procedure — Obligation to state reasons — Equal treatment — Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights)
1.      Actions for annulment — Judgment annulling a measure — Scope — Commission decision finding aid incompatible with the internal market and ordering its recovery — Annulment for a manifest error of law and manifest errors of assessment — New analysis required by the annulment judgment able to be carried out by the Commission without starting the investigation of the case afresh — Right to be heard having been respected at the time the annulled decision was adopted — Adoption of a new decision without re-opening the formal investigation procedure — Lawfulness
(Arts 108(2) TFEU and 266 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights, Art. 41; Council Regulation No 659/1999)
(see paras 63-79, 85, 86)
2.      State aid — Concept — Assessment according to the criterion of the private investor — Assessment of all factors relevant to the transaction at issue and its context — Obligation on the Member State to provide all of the relevant elements for the examination of the criterion of the private investor — Consequences
(Art. 107(1) TFEU)
(see paras 95-107, 152)
3.      State aid — Concept — Assessment according to the criterion of the private investor — Assessment of all factors relevant to the transaction at issue and its context — Burden of proof on the Member State — Scope
(Art. 107(1) TFEU)
(see paras 118-120, 131-133)
4.      State aid — Concept — Assessment according to the criterion of the private investor — Account taken of an investor’s social responsibility and the entrepreneurial context — Additional redundancy payments — Criteria for assessment
(Art. 107(1) TFEU)
(see paras 134-142)
5.      State aid — Concept — Assessment according to the criterion of the private investor — Complex evaluation of economic matters — Discretion of the Commission — Judicial review — Limits
(Art. 107(1) TFEU)
(see paras 153, 154)
6.      State aid — Concept — Assessment according to the criterion of the private investor — Capital contribution — Capital contributions of private and public investors made at the same time — Criteria for assessment — Comparability of private and public investment conditions
(Art. 107(1), TFEU)
(see paras 197-210)
7.      State aid — Concept — State intervention mitigating the burdens normally included in the budget of an undertaking — Included — Current account advance agreed to by a State entity in favour of staff made redundant by a company intending to finance the cost of future additional payments — Included
(Art. 107(1), TFEU)
(see paras 218-232)
Re:
APPLICATION under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2013) 7066 final of 20 November 2013, concerning State aid SA.16237 (C 58/2002) (ex N 118/2002) implemented by France in favour of SNCM.
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the action;
2.
Orders Société nationale maritime Corse Méditerranée (SNCM) to bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the European Commission and Corsica Ferries France;
3.
Orders the comité d’entreprise de la Société nationale maritime Corse Méditerranée (SNCM) to bear its own costs.