CELEX: C1996/077/38
Language: en
Date: 1996-03-16 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 1 February 1996 by Société Bretagne Angleterre Irlande (BAI) againt the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-14/96)

No C 77/ 18        1 EN |                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                    16 . 3 . 96
As regards Regulation ( EC ) No 2565/95 , the applicants, in           Government of Biscay of the other part. By the contested
seeking its annulment, claim, first of all, that it does not state     decision, the Commission considered that the new
reasons as required by Article 190 of the EC Treaty and,               agreement, which runs from 1995 to 1998 , does not
secondly, that Article 155 of the EC Treaty has been                   constitute State aid .
infringed since the Commission, which is entrusted with
safeguarding the rule of law in the Community, was aware               The applicant claims, first, that the Commission disregarded
of the unlawfulness of the basis of Regulation ( EC ) No               the principle audi alteram partem in deciding to terminate
1671 /95 , it should not have proceeded to adopt a                     the procedure laid down in Article 93 ( 2 ) without giving the
Regulation in implementation thereof.                                  complainant the opportunity to submit comments . It points
                                                                       out in that connection that at no time during the procedure
(>) OJ No C 315 , 25 . 11 . 1995 , p . 22 .                            was it informed that a new agreement had been drawn up
                                                                       and concluded between the Spanish authorities and Ferries
                                                                       Golfo de Vizcaya, an agreement of whose content it is a
                                                                       fortiori unaware; it was therefore unable to submit
                                                                       observations on the new agreement.
                                                                       The applicant also considers that the contested decision
Action brought on 1 February 1996 by Societe Bretagne                  does not satisfy the requirement under Article 190 of the EC
Angleterre Irlande (BAI ) againt the Commission of the                 Treaty to state the reasons on which it is based, since it does
                  European Communities                                 not permit the parties concerned to know the reasons which
                        ( Case T-14/96 )                               led the Commission to consider that the new agreement does
                          ( 96/C 77/38 )
                                                                       not constitute State aid or permit the Community judicature
                                                                       to exercise judicial review. The applicant adds that in
                                                                       addition to the obviously inadequate statement of reasons,
               (Language of the case: French)                          the contested decision contains manifest errors .
An action against the Commission of the European                       Secondly, the applicant claims that the agreement concluded
Communities was brought before the Court of First                      under the aegis of the Commission favours Ferries Golfo de
Instance of the European Communities on 1 February 1996                Vizcaya because it concerns either a Spanish or Basque
by Bretagne Angleterre Irlande ( Brittany Ferries ), a                 undertaking, or an undertaking having its registered office
company whose registered office is in Roscoff ( France ),              in Spain or the Basque country. By allowing and ratifying
represented by Jean-Michel Payre, of the Paris Bar, with an            such discrimination, however considerable the ensuing
address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of                   obstacle to freedom to provide services , the Commission has
Aloyse May, 31 Grand-rue,                                              infringed Article 6 of the EC Treaty, in conjunction with
                                                                       Articles 3f and 92 ( 1 ).
The applicant claims that the Court should :                           Lastly, the applicant alleges infringement of Article 92 ( 1 ) of
                                                                       the EC Treaty, pointing out that massive buying of Ferries
— annul the Commission's decision in State Aid C 32/93 ,               Golfo de Vizcaya transport vouchers by the Spanish
    published in the Official Journal of the European                  authorities strengthens that company's position and the
     Communities on 1 December 1995 ( OJ No C 321 ,                    question of the financial profitability or otherwise of the
    P - 4 ),                                                           ferry service thus guaranteed is irrelevant, contrary to what
                                                                       is stated in the contested decision .
— order the Commission to pay the costs .
Pleas in law and main arguments:
The applicant, a French shipping company which has for
many years operated a ferry shipping line between the ports            Action brought on 1 February 1996 by Lino Liao against the
of Plymouth ( England ) and Santander ( Spain ), states that on                       Council of the European Union
21 September 1992 it lodged a complaint with the
Commission concerning an agreement concluded between                                          ( Case T-15/96 )
the shipping company Ferries Golfo de Vizcaya SA on the                                          ( 96/C 77/39 )
one hand and the Regional Government of Biscay
( Diputacion Foral de Vizcaya ) and the Ministry of
                                                                                      (Language of the case: French)
Commerce and Tourism of the Basque Government
( Gobierno Vasco ) on the other. The Commission decided to
initiate the procedure laid down in Article 93 ( 2 ) of the EC         An action against the Council of the European Union was
Treaty, since it considered that various aspects of the                brought before the Court of First Instance of the European
agreement seemed to indicate a special relationship                    Communities on 1 February 1995 by Lino Liao, residing in
involving State aid. In response to the initiation of the              Brussels, represented by Pierre-Paul van Gehuchten and
Article 93 (2 ) procedure, the agreement at issue was                  Constantin Nikis, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for
suspended and a new agreement concluded between Ferries                service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Louis Schiltz,
Golfo de Vizcaya of the one part and the Regional                      2 Rue du Fort Rheinsheim .