Order of the President of the General Court of 28 November 2014 —

Airport Handling v Commission

(Case T‑688/14 R)

‛Application for interim measures — State aid — Obligation to recover aid granted by the public operator of an airport to a subsidiary company responsible for management services — Subsidiary company put into liquidation — Setting up of a new company responsible for management services — Commission decision to initiate the State aid formal investigation procedure in order to examine whether there is an economic continuity between the two companies — Application for suspension of operation of a measure — Manifest inadmissibility of the main action — 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 21-23)

2. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Acts intended to have legal effects — Concept — Conditions (Art. 263 TFEU) (see para. 25)

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 26-28, 30, 31, 48)

4. State aid — Decision of the Commission to open a formal investigation procedure in respect of 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 30, 31)

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. 32)

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 33-38, 42, 47)

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. 53)

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 53, 54)

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. 58)

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. 63)

Re:

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

Operative part

1. The application for interim measures is dismissed.

2. The order of 29 September 2014 delivered in Case T‑688/14 R is cancelled.