Case T-83/07: Action brought on 14 March 2007 — Kliq Reïntegratie (in liquidation) v Commission
Date: 2007-05-26
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: Netherlands, State aid, action for annulment (EU), aid for restructuring, control of State aid, liquidation

26.5.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 117/25

Action brought on 14 March 2007 — Kliq Reïntegratie (in
liquidation) v Commission

(Case T-83/07)

(2007/C 117/39)

Language of the case: Dutch

Parties

Applicant: Jean Leon Marcel Groenewegen, acting in his capacity
as receiver in the liquidation proceedings relating to Kliq Reïnte-
gratie B.V., a private company with limited liability (Amersfoort,
Netherlands) (represented by: G. van der Wal and T. Boesman,
lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

and is also not described as such by the Commission in the
contested decision. There is therefore, it is contended, no basis
for any recovery by the State against Kliq Reïntegratie or for the
application to Kliq Reïntegratie of, in particular, point 23(d) of
the Community Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restruc-
turing firms in difficulty (2).

that

It is also, the applicant contends, unclear whether the Commis-
sion concluded in the contested decision, in regard to Kliq Reïn-
tegratie,
there was unlawful aid in the amount of
EUR 35.75 million that had to be claimed back by the Nether-
lands or whether what was in issue was rescue aid which the
Commission approved in the contested decision on the basis of
the Community Guidelines on State aid for
point 23(d) of
rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (3). Further,
it is
alleged that the Commission,
in its decision of 16 December
2003 (4), had agreed that this amount was to be used to finance
the redundancies of staff members and the redemption of the
redundant contracts of Kliq Reïntegratie, and that Kliq Reïnte-
gratie was thereafter to be placed in liquidation.

Form of order sought

— annul

the Commission's decision of 19 July 2006 in

Case C 30/2005;

— order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceedings.

The applicant submits, second, that the Commission wrongly
failed to establish that the alleged aid might be liable to have an
adverse effect on competition and trade between Member States;
at any rate, the Commission's findings in this regard are inade-
quately reasoned.

Pleas in law and main arguments

applicant

The
Decision
2006/939/EC of 19 July 2006 on the aid measure notified by
the Netherlands for KG Holding NV (1).

Commission

challenging

is

The aid measure mentioned related to restructuring aid which
the Netherlands wished to grant
to KG Holding NV by
converting a previously approved rescue loan and the interest
payable thereon into equity capital. In the contested decision,
the Commission declares the aid measure,
in the form of
restructuring aid, to be incompatible with the common market.

The Commission also rules that the Netherlands must recover
from KG Holding NV and its subsidiary Kliq BV that portion of
the aid which KG Holding NV transferred to Kliq BV as a rescue
loan and which was converted into equity capital, and that the
Netherlands must register with the receiver their claim against
KG Holding NV and/or Kliq Reïntegratie as a creditor in the
liquidation proceedings.

In support of his application, the applicant submits, first, that
the Commission committed errors of appraisal, as a result of
which the contested decision is inadequately reasoned and at
variance with Article 87(1) EC. The applicant claims in particu-
lar that the Commission erred in deciding that the Netherlands
had to register with the receiver their claim in the amount of
EUR 35.75 million against KG Holding and Kliq Reïntegratie as
a creditor in the liquidation proceedings.

The applicant submits in this regard that the Netherlands State
has no claim against Kliq Reïntegratie. Furthermore, Kliq Reïnte-
gratie is not an undertaking which was a recipient of State aid

Third, it is submitted that the Commission erred in finding that
the alleged aid of EUR 35.75 million had to be recovered from
KG Holding and/or Kliq Reïntegratie by registering those claims
in the liquidation proceedings. By reason of the liquidation of
KG Holding, Kliq Reïntegratie and Kliq BV, recovery of
the
amounts of alleged aid will, it is argued, be definitively impos-
sible and would in any event be pointless in the sense that
recovery through registration in the liquidation proceedings
relating to those companies is unnecessary and, indeed, entirely
superfluous for the purpose of putting an end to the distortion
of competition.

Fourth, it is argued that the Commission erred in its statements
and findings in law with regard to a current-account credit
facility of EUR 17 million which had already been provided by
the Netherlands to KG Holding when the latter was established
and was in accordance with the rules on State aid, and which
did not form part of the measure under examination in the
contested decision.

(1) OJ 2006 L 366, p. 40.
(2) OJ 1999 C 288, p. 2.
(3) OJ 1999 C 288, p. 2.
(4) Aid measure N 510/2003 — Rescue aid for Kliq Holding NV

(OJ 2004 C 33, p. 8).