CELEX: C2004/300/95
Language: en
Date: 2004-12-04 00:00:00
Title: Case T-395/04: Action brought on 5 October 2004 by Air One SpA against the Commission of the European Communities

4.12.2004   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 300/49
            
         Action brought on 5 October 2004 by Air One SpA against the Commission of the European Communities
   (Case T-395/04)
   (2004/C 300/95)
   Language of the case: Italian
   An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 5 October 2004 by Air One SpA, represented by Gianluca Belotti and Matteo Padellaro, lawyers.
   The applicant claims that the Court should:
   
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               declare and rule that the Commission has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty, since, despite having been formally requested to do so, it failed to define its position on the complaint made on 22 December 2003 by Air One concerning illegal State aid which the Italian authorities granted to the air carrier Ryanair;
            
         
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               order the Commission to define its position without further delay on the complaint made by the applicant and adopt a formal measure in that connection and on the preventive measures requested;
            
         
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               order the defendant to pay all the costs in any case, even if it becomes unnecessary to give a judgment in the event that the Commission adopts a measure whilst the proceedings are pending.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments:
   In support of its action, the applicant claims that, by letter dated 22 December 2003, it submitted a complaint to the European Commission on account of illegal aid granted to the Irish air carrier Ryanair at various Italian airports, in the form of extremely competitive airport tariffs and prices for services provided to aeroplanes using Italian airports, at times without any charge whatsoever being made.
   In the absence of any reply from the Commission, Air One formally called on the latter to define its position on the complaint within the meaning and for the purposes of Article 232 EC. Four months having passed without the Commission having defined its position, Air One decided to bring an action before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities.
   In that respect, it must be emphasised that failure, for a period of nine months, to reply to a well-constructed complaint based on facts which, to a large extent and in similar cases, have already been examined by the Commission and found to constitute a grant of State aid and the Commission's failure to take action against the Italian authorities on account of the alleged aid, which is illegal and, very probably, incompatible with the common market, can only be declared unlawful by the Court of First Instance.
   According to the applicant it is also worth noting that the contested aid was granted to an undertaking operating in the air transport sector — a sector which is already receiving special attention from the Commission in connection with State aid.