CELEX: C2002/109/109
Language: en
Date: 2002-05-04 00:00:00
Title: Case T-34/02: Action brought on 20 February 2002 by EURL Le Levant 001 and Others against the Commission of the European Communities

4.5.2002              EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                        C 109/57
Action brought on 20 February 2002 by EURL Le Levant                     financial investment exclusively in order to benefit from a tax
001 and Others against the Commission of the European                    break. The applicants also maintain that the Commission has
                          Communities                                    infringed Council Directive 90/684/EEC on aid to shipbuilding.
                                                                         They submit that Article 4(7) of that directive can apply only
                                                                         to shipyards or ship operators, and in no circumstances to
                         (Case T-34/02)                                  private investors.
                       (2002/C 109/109)
                                                                         In addition, the applicants plead infringement of the principles
                                                                         of the protection of legitimate expectations and legal certainty
                   (Language of the case: French)                        and failure to comply with the obligation to provide a
                                                                         statement of reasons. Moreover, by ordering the recovery of
                                                                         the alleged aid when that is contrary to the abovementioned
                                                                         general principles of law, the Commission has infringed
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                Article 14 of Council Regulation No 659/1999 (2).
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 20 February 2002 by the company
EURL Le Levant 001 and Others, represented by Pierre Kirch,              According to the applicants, the contested decision also
lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg.                       contains manifest errors of assessment and is based on material
                                                                         inaccuracies.
The applicants claim that the Court should:
                                                                         In addition, the applicants plead infringement of Article 153(2)
—     annul the Commission’s decision of 25 July 2001 on                 of the EC Treaty, in that the Commission does not take into
      the State aid implemented by France in the form of                 account the interests of the applicants, who are consumers of
      development assistance for the cruise vessel ‘Le Levant’,          financial services. Lastly, they claim that the Commission has
      built by Alstom Leroux Naval for operation in Saint-               infringed Article 2 of Regulation No 69/2001 (3) by failing to
      Pierre-et-Miquelon (State aid C 74/99 — France), publi-            apply the de minimis rule.
      shed in OJ L 327 of 12 December 2001, p. 37;
                                                                         (1) Rectifying Finance Law No 86-824 of 11 July 1986, published in
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.
                                                                             JORF (Official Journal of the French Republic) of 12 July 1986,
                                                                             p. 8688.
                                                                         (2) Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying
                                                                             down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC
Pleas in law and main arguments                                              Treaty (OJ L 83 of 27.3.1999, p. 1).
                                                                         (3) Commission Regulation (EC) No 69/2001 of 12 January 2001 on
                                                                             the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de
The applicants in this case are one-man undertakings with                    minimis aid (OJ L 10 of 13.1.2001, p. 30).
limited liability and the persons who formed those undertak-
ings. Those persons have invested, through a one-man limited
liability undertaking (EURL), in the vessel ‘Le Levant’. The
investment could be inferred from their taxable income, in
accordance with the French ‘Loi Pons’ (1). The applicants
are contesting the Commission’s decision declaring those
companies to be recipients of State aid in consequence of the
construction of the vessel ‘Le Levant’.                                  Action brought on 13 February 2002 by ALITALIA
                                                                           against the Commission of the European Communities
In support of their action, the applicants assert that the
Commission has exceeded its powers by adopting a decision                                          (Case T-35/02)
the effect of which is to require a Member State to recover
from private individuals, and not from undertakings within                                       (2002/C 109/110)
the meaning of Community law, the amount of the State aid.
                                                                                             (Language of the case: Italian)
The applicants further maintain that the Commission has
infringed their rights of defence and their right to a fair
hearing, by not allowing them effectively to submit their
observations prior to the adoption of the decision.                      An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                         ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                         European Communities on 13 February 2002 by ALITALIA,
Next, the applicants deny that they are undertakings within              represented by Guido Alpa, Mario Siragusa, Gian Michele
the meaning of Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty. In the applicants’        Roberti, Giuseppe Scassellati and Francesca Maria Moretti,
view, they are merely private investors who have made a                  lawyers.