Action brought on 12 September 2018 — European Commission v Italian Republic

(Case C-576/18)

(2018/C 399/33)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: B. Stromsky and D. Recchia, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Italian Republic

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— declare that, by having failed to adopt all the measures necessary to ensure compliance with the judgment of the Court of 29 March 2012 in Case C-243/10, concerning the recovery from beneficiaries of the aid held to be unlawful and incompatible with the common market within the meaning of Commission Decision 2008/854/EC (1) of 2 July 2008, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that decision and Article 260 TFEU;

— order the Italian Republic to pay to the Commission a lump sum, the amount of which is calculated by multiplying a per diem amount of EUR 13 892 by the number of days over which the failure to fulfil obligations persists, and representing a minimum of EUR 8 715 000, from the date of delivery of the judgment in Case C-243/10 until the date of judgment in the present case;

— order the Italian Republic to pay to the Commission a penalty on a half yearly basis, fixed by the Commission as from the semester following the date of judgment in the present case and equivalent to EUR 126 840 per day;

— order the Italian Republic to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By Decision 2008/854/EC of 2 July 2008, concerning an aid scheme for the hotel industry in Sardinia (Regional Law No 9 of 1998 — misuse of aid measure No 272/98), published in the Official Journal of the European Union L 302 of 13 November 2008, the Commission declared that the State aid in question granted by Italy was unlawful and incompatible with the internal market and ordered its recovery.

By judgment of 29 March 2012 in Case C-243/10, Commission v Italy, the Court declared that Italy had failed in its obligations under that decision by failing to adopt, within the prescribed period, all of the measures necessary to ensure recovery from the beneficiaries of the aid granted in the context of the scheme set out under that decision.

After a period of more than six years since that judgment, despite the numerous requests made by the Commission to the Italian Government, a large part of the aid in question has not yet been recovered. The arguments put forward in that respect by the Italian Government, in particular in relation to pending national proceedings, do not amount to valid justifications for such a failure. It therefore follows that, as at the date of filing of the present action, Italy has not yet recovered all of the aid and has thus not complied in full with the judgment of the Court in Case C-243/10.

The Commission accordingly requests the Court to declare that Italy has infringed Article 260 TFEU and to order it to pay a lump sum and a half-yearly penalty for as long as there is not full compliance with the judgment in Case C-243/10.

(1) Commission Decision 2008/854/EC of 2 July 2008 on State aid scheme ‘Regional Law No 9 of 1998 — misuse of aid measure No 272/98’ C 1/04 (ex NN 158/03 and CP 15/2003) (OJ 2008 L 302, p. 9).