Order of the President of the General Court of 27 November 2014 —

SEA v Commission

(Case T‑674/14 R)

‛Application for interim measures — State aid — Obligation to recover aid granted by the public operator of an airport to a subsidiary management company — Liquidation of the company — Creation of a new management company — Commission decision to initiate a formal State aid investigation procedure in order to assess the existence of any economic continuity between the two companies — Application for suspension of operation of a measure — Manifest inadmissibility of the main application — Inadmissibility — Lack of urgency’

1. Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Community law — Prima facie admissibility of the main action — Summary examination of the main action by the court hearing the application for interim measures — Measure not capable of being the subject-matter of an annulment action — Inadmissibility (Art. 278 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 104(1)) (see paras 20-22)

2. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Acts intended to have legal effects — Concept — Conditions (Art. 263 TFEU) (see para. 24)

3. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Measures producing binding legal effects — Commission decision to open a formal investigation procedure into a State measure in the course of implementation and to classify it provisionally as new aid — Included (Arts 107(1) TFEU, 108(3) TFEU and 263 TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Arts 6 and 7) (see paras 25-27, 29, 30, 47)

4. State aid — Commission decision to open a formal investigation procedure into a State measure — Provisional nature of the Commission’s assessments — Immediate, certain and sufficiently binding effects for the addressee Member State and reasonable doubt as to the legality of the measure in question (Art. 108(2) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 6) (see paras 29, 30)

5. State aid — Respective powers of the Commission and the national courts — Role of the national courts — Commission decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure in respect of aid — Obligation of the national courts to draw all the consequences of a possible infringement of the obligation to suspend the measures examined — Right to suspend operation of the measure in question, order recovery of amounts already paid and grant provisional measures (Art. 108(2) and (3) TFEU) (see para. 31)

6. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Measures producing binding legal effects — Commission decision to open a formal procedure for review of a State measure no longer in the course of implementation — Not included (Arts 107(1), TFEU, 108(2) and (3) TFEU and 263 TFEU) (see paras 32-37, 40, 46)

7. Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Urgency — Serious and irreparable damage — Burden of proof — Financial loss — Whether the risk materialises dependent on uncertain, future events — No certain damage (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 104(2)) (see para. 54)

8. Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Serious and irreparable damage — Burden of proof — Financial loss — Situation capable of irreparably changing the market position of the applicant company (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU) (see paras 54, 55)

9. Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Serious and irreparable damage — Damage having already occurred — Compensation outside the purpose of the interim proceedings (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 104(2)) (see para. 61)

10. Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Prima facie case — Serious and irreparable damage — Cumulative nature — Order of examination and method of verification — Discretion of the court hearing the application for interim relief (Arts 256(1) TFEU, 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 104(2)) (see para. 64)

Re:

APPLICATION for interim measures seeking, in essence, the suspension of European Commission Decision C(2014) 4537 final of 9 July 2014 to initiate a formal investigation procedure under Article 108(2) TFEU concerning the establishment of the company Airport Handling (SA.21420 (2014/NN) — Italy — Establishment of Airport Handling).

Operative part

1. The application for interim measures is dismissed.