Joined Cases T-236/17 and T-596/17: Judgment of the General Court of 16 December 2020 — Balti Gaas v Commission and INEA (Financial assistance under the Connecting Europe Facility for the period 2014-2020 — Field of trans-European energy infrastructure — Calls for proposals — Action for failure to act — No invitation to act — Inadmissibility — Action for annulment — Act not open to challenge — Preparatory act — Partial inadmissibility — Decision rejecting a proposal — Manifest errors of assessment — Obligation to state reasons — Competence of the Commission)
Date: 2020-12-16
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: EU aid, action programme, competence of the institution, energy grid, executive agency, financial aid, innovation, legality, trans-European network, transparency in decision-making








C_2021062EN.01002301.xml










22.2.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 62/23






Judgment of the General Court of 16 December 2020 — Balti Gaas v Commission and INEA
(Joined Cases T-236/17 and T-596/17) (1)

(Financial assistance under the Connecting Europe Facility for the period 2014-2020 - Field of trans-European energy infrastructure - Calls for proposals - Action for failure to act - No invitation to act - Inadmissibility - Action for annulment - Act not open to challenge - Preparatory act - Partial inadmissibility - Decision rejecting a proposal - Manifest errors of assessment - Obligation to state reasons - Competence of the Commission)
(2021/C 62/27)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: Balti Gaas OÜ (Tallinn, Estonia) (represented by: E. Tamm, lawyer)

Defendants: European Commission (represented by: O. Beynet and Y. Marinova, acting as Agents), Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (represented by: I. Ramallo and L. Di Paolo, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: Republic of Estonia (represented by: N. Grünberg, acting as Agent)

Re:

Application, first, under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of the decision allegedly contained in INEA’s letter of 17 February 2017 concerning the applicant’s proposal in response to the second call for proposals published for 2016 in the context of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), on the basis of the multiannual work programme adopted under Commission Implementing Decision C(2016) 1587 final of 17 March 2016 on amending Commission Implementing Decision C(2014) 2080 establishing the multiannual work programme for granting financial aid in the field of trans-European energy infrastructure under the CEF for the period 2014-2020 (Case T-236/17), and, second, principally, under Article 265 TFEU for a declaration that the Commission unlawfully failed to adopt a reasoned decision regarding the applicant’s proposal and, in the alternative, application for annulment of Commission Implementing Decision C(2017) 1593 final of 14 March 2017 on the selection and award of grants for actions contributing to projects of common interest under the CEF in the field of trans-European energy infrastructure (Case T-596/17).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the actions;










2.


Orders the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Balti Gaas OÜ in Case T-236/17, the European Commission being ordered to bear its own costs in that case;










3.


Orders Balti Gaas OÜ to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the Commission in Case T-596/17;










4.


Orders the Republic of Estonia to bear its own costs.






(1)  OJ C 221, 10.7.2017.