CELEX: C1995/248/32
Language: en
Date: 1995-09-23 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 5 July 1995 by Ryanair Limited against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-140/95)

No C 248/ 14             EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                       23 . 9 . 95
                                                        COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
Action brought on 5 July 1995 by Ryanair Limited against                 The applicant submits that the contested Decision should be
         the Commission of the European Communities                      annulled on the following four grounds :
                          ( Case T-140/95 )
                            ( 95/C 248 /32 )
                                                                         ( 1 ) the Commission infringed an essential procedural
                                                                               requirement in failing to open a procedure under
                                                                               Article 93 ( 2 ) of the EC Treaty prior to taking the
                    (Language of the case: English)                            contested Decision . The Commission itself admitted in
                                                                               the contested Decision that it still had doubts in
                                                                               November/December 1994 as to whether the
An action against the Commission of the European                               requirements of Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c ) were satisfied in the
Communities was brought before the Court of First                              case of the second tranche . Furthermore, the second
Instance of the European Communities on 5 July 1995 by                         tranche of aid itself and the circumstances in which it
Ryanair Limited, represented by Trevor Soames and Alan                         was granted had altered from those considered in 1993 ,
Ryan, Solicitors, with an address for service in Luxembourg                    including most significantly that Aer Lingus had failed
at the Chambers of Ernst Arendt, Arendt & Medernach,                           to implement its restructuring programme . The
8-10 Rue Mathias Hardt .                                                       Commission was therefore required to open the
                                                                               procedure under Article 93 ( 2 ) which it failed to do;
The applicant claims that the Court should :
                                                                         2.    the second tranche of aid could not satisfy the
                                                                               requirements of Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c ) since the conditions
— annul the Commission's decision published on 13 April                        attached to the December 1993 Decision had not been
       1995 in the Official Journal of the European                            satisfied and the Commission could not, in the
       Communities OJ No C 399 , p 1 , dated 31 December                       contested Decision, conclude that the second tranche
       1994 ,                                                                  was nevertheless compatible with the common market
                                                                               without applying a different test from that applied in
                                                                                1993 ;
— order the Commission to pay the applicant's costs .
                                                                         3.    the Commission infringed Article 190 of the EC Treaty
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                            in failing to provide an adequate statement of the
                                                                               reasons for adopting the contested Decision, failed even
The applicant states that the Commission, by Decision of                       to investigate whether the aid affected trading
21 December 1993 , authorized the Irish Government to                          conditions to an extent contrary to the common
grant £ Irl 175 million in State aid to the Aer Lingus group,                  interest and committed a number of errors of reasoning
provided that the Irish Government observed a number of                        which erroneously led it to conclude that the second
conditions imposed by that Decision . The aid was to be paid                   tranche of aid could be compatible with the common
in three annual tranches, the first of £ Irl 75 million in 1993                market pursuant to Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c ) and that the first
and two tranches of £ Irl 50 million in each 1994 and 1995 .                   tranche still benefited from the exemption accorded by
The aid was linked to a restructuring programme which had                      the December 1993 Decision ;
been drawn up to restore Aer Lingus to viability following
very serious losses which threatened its survival .
                                                                          4.    the Commission committed several manifest errors of
                                                                                assessment in concluding that the second tranche of aid
By the time the second annual tranche of £ Irl 50 million was                   could satisfy the two requirements of Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c )
to be paid in December 1994 , Aer Lingus had failed to                          of the EC Treaty, for, inter alia, the following
achieve the cost reductions specified in its restructuring                      reasons :
programme . Pursuant to Article 1 ( a ) of the Commission's
Decision, the Irish Government was not therefore permitted
to grant the second tranche of aid at the end of 1994 . In                      — the aid did not facilitate the development of certain
order to permit the Irish Government to do so, the                                  economic activities,
Commission adopted a new Decision in December 1994
 ( the contested Decision ) derogating from the December                        — the aid affected trading conditions to an extent
 1993 Decision declaring the second tranche to be                                   contrary to the common interest.
compatible with the common market pursuant to Article 92
 ( 3 ) (c ) of the EC Treaty, despite the fact that Aer Lingus had,
inter alia, failed to implement its restructuring programme
and had failed to achieve the cost reductions required
thereby .