Case T‑242/12

Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF)

v

European Commission

‛State aid — Aid measures implemented by France in favour of Sernam SCS — Aid measures for restructuring and recapitalising, guarantees and debt write-off by SNCF in favour of Sernam — Decision declaring the aid measures incompatible with the internal market — Misuse of aid — Recovery — Economic continuity — Private investor criterion’

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber), 17 December 2015

State aid — Aid authorised by the Commission — Misuse by the beneficiary — Burden of proof on the Commission (Art. 108(2) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Arts 1(g), and 16)

EU law — Interpretation — Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Account taken in the interpretation of the operative part

State aid — Commission decision — Assessment of legality — Commission’s decision-making practice — Irrelevant (Art. 108(2) TFEU)

Actions for annulment — Subject-matter — Decision based on several pillars of reasoning, each sufficient to justify the operative part — Decision on State aid — Illegality affecting only one pillar of reasoning — Annulment of the decision only where that illegality influencing the operative part (Art. 263 TFEU)

State aid — Recovery of unlawful aid — Undertaking in receipt of aid becoming insolvent — Constitution of a new undertaking to carry on its business — Repayment incumbent on the new undertaking — Conditions — Criterion of ‘economic continuity’ of the undertaking — Elements to be taken into consideration (Art. 108(2) TFEU)

State aid — Recovery of unlawful aid — Determination of the debtor where assets transferred — Criterion of ‘economic continuity’ of the undertaking — Elements to be taken into consideration (Art. 108(2) TFEU)

State aid — Recovery of unlawful aid — Determination of the debtor where shares sold — Beneficiary of the competitive advantage — Liability of the undertaking which sold its shares where the legal personality and continuity of the subsidised activities retained (Art. 108(2) TFEU)

State aid — Concept — Assessment according to the criterion of the private investor — State shareholder of an undertaking — State acting as a public authority — Distinction as regards application of the private investor criterion (Art. 107(1) TFEU)

State aid — Concept — Aid granted in the form of a guarantee — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU; Commission Notice 2000/C 71/07, point 2.1.2)

State aid — Effect on trade between Member States — Adverse effect on competition — Criteria for assessment — Small size and limited extent of aid not a priori excluding the possibility of trade being affected (Art. 107(1) TFEU)

Judicial proceedings — Intervention — Disputed admissibility of a plea relied on by an intervener taking into account its dubious connection with the subject-matter of the case — Plea having, in any event, to be rejected on another ground or as unfounded — Possibility for the Court to dismiss without ruling on its admissibility (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Arts 142 and 144)

State aid — Commission decision to open a formal investigation procedure into a State measure — Subject-matter and scope of the procedure — Obligation to state reasons — Scope (Art. 108(2) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 6)

State aid — Examination by the Commission — Decision to open the formal investigation procedure under Article 108(2) TFEU — Evolution of the Commission’s position at the conclusion of the procedure (Art. 108(2) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 7)

State aid — Administrative procedure — Obligation of the Commission to give notice to the interested parties to submit their comments — Exclusion of those parties from rights of defence — Right of the party paying the aid to be sufficiently associated with the procedure (Art. 108(2) TFEU)

EU law — Principles — Protection of legitimate expectations — Conditions

Competition — Administrative procedure — Obligations of the Commission — Duty to act within a reasonable time — Infringement — Consequences (Art. 108(2) TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(1))