natgillin/translations-raw huggingface dataset:
Disse supplerende sociale foranstaltninger udgør uden tvivl en fordel for SNCM.
The French authorities point out that, in recent judgments, the French courts have ordered the de facto or de jure manager to defray, as well as the asset shortfall, additional redundancy payments calculated on the basis of a social plan drawn up by the undertaking before it was put into liquidation.
Kommissionen mener derfor, at foranstaltningen udgør statsstøtte efter EUF-traktatens artikel 107, stk. 1.
The French authorities state in particular that, in the Aspocomp case, the French company Aspocomp SAS, a 99 % subsidiary of the Finnish company Aspocomp Group Oyj, signed a company-level agreement on 18 January 2002 describing the conditions for indemnification of a social plan relating to 210 employees out of a total of 550.
Restbeløbet på 15,81 mio. EUR, der blev udbetalt som omstruktureringsstøtte i 2002
That agreement described, in particular, the amount of compensation and additional payments as well as assistance in the case of voluntary redundancy.
Foranstaltningerne fra 2006 sikrede en betydelig forhøjelse af støttebeløbet til den omstrukturering, der undersøges, jf. planen fra 2002, til et beløb af 69,29 mio. EUR og skal analyseres som en ændring af omstruktureringsplanen og omkostningerne hertil.
Following a change in group strategy, the parent company Aspocomp Group Oyj decided on 21 February 2002 to stop financing its subsidiary Aspocomp SAS, thereby forcing the latter into voluntary liquidation.
Da privatiseringen blev planlagt var omstruktureringsplanen nemlig allerede i gang.
That decision prevented the subsidiary from fulfilling its obligations under the company-level agreement and forced it to lay off all of its remaining employees.
Men SNCM nåede ikke sit mål om at vende tilbage til en situation med rentabilitet.
In these circumstances, the judgment of the Rouen Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment of the Evreux labour court and ordered Aspocomp Group Oyj, which had 99 % control of its subsidiary, to pay (i) the employees affected by the company-level agreement the entire compensation and additional payments provided for in that agreement, as well as damages for dismissal without due and just cause and (ii) the employees laid off under the voluntary liquidation of Aspocomp equivalent payments given that, by not honouring the commitments made, the parent company had acted unfairly and with a culpable lack of concern.
Beløbet på 69,29 mio. EUR svarer til det beløb på 66 mio. EUR, der blev bevilget i 2002 gennem den første rate i omstruktureringsplanen, og de 3,29 mio. EUR i støtte, som blev bevilget i 2005 gennem anden rate.
Although France also referred, in support of its theory, to a judgment of the commercial division of the Court of Cassation [149] handed down on 19 April 2005, the Commission does not see any decisive element in that judgment with any bearing on the present dispute.
Lovligheden af denne støtte blev bekræftet ved Rettens dom af 11. september 2012, og Kommissionen skal derfor undersøge foreneligheden af den egentlige omstruktureringsstøtte, dvs. 15,81 mio. EUR, der blev bevilget under omstruktureringen i 2002, og foreneligheden af alle støtteforanstaltningerne i 2006 på baggrund af rammebestemmelserne fra 2004.
At all events, the Commission notes that the facts in Aspocomp are not comparable to those in the case under examination.
UNDERSØGELSE AF FORENELIGHEDEN AF OMSTRUKTURERINGSSTØTTEN, DER BLEV UDBETALT I 2002 OG 2006
In the present case, CGMF did not fail to honour its commitments to make additional redundancy payments.
Rammebestemmelser, der skal undersøges
It is to be noted that both SNCM and the French authorities seem to attribute importance to the fact that a social plan […] [60] Confidential information.
I overensstemmelse med overgangsreglerne i henhold til rammebestemmelserne fra 2004 [157] finder disse anvendelse, når der er tale om en ulovlig støtte, som delvis er bevilget efter deres ikrafttræden.
It is extremely doubtful that […] [60] Confidential information.
Hvis foranstaltningerne fra 2006 således udgør støtte, indgår de i de omstruktureringsforanstaltninger, der blev iværksat i 2002, og skal derfor analyseres sammen med disse.
can be considered mismanagement such as to incur the liability of the State towards the employees […] [60] Confidential information.
Alle disse støtteforanstaltningers forenelighed vil derfor blive analyseret under rammebestemmelserne fra 2004.
Even in the unlikely event that […] [60] Confidential information.
SNCM's karakter af kriseramt virksomhed
the State was liable towards the employees and had entitled them to compensation payable by the State [150], the granting of such an entitlement would itself constitute an advantage accorded to SNCM, and hence State aid, for reasons similar to those set out below concerning aid to individuals totalling EUR 38,5 million, as this measure was capable of improving somewhat industrial relations in the undertaking.
For at være berettiget til omstruktureringsstøtte skal virksomheden kunne betegnes som kriseramt i den i rammebestemmelserne fastsatte betydning.
Conclusion on taking account of action to make good the asset shortfall
I den foreliggende sag skal Kommissionen erindre om, at den både i sin beslutning af 17. juli 2002 om redningsstøtten til SNCM [158] og i sin beslutning af 19. august 2002 om indledning af den formelle undersøgelsesprocedure vedrørende rekapitaliseringsplanen, konstaterede, at dette kriterium var opfyldt med henvisning til SNCM's årsregnskab for 2001.
It has not been established to the requisite legal standard that the French authorities would, with a sufficient degree of probability, have been ordered by a national court to pay damages to make good the asset shortfall, and still less that the monies to be paid would have exceeded the negative price at which SNCM was ‘sold’.
Ud over udviklingen i egenkapitalen konstaterer Kommissionen desuden følgende:
Account should also be taken of the fact that the State’s actions, assuming that it was indeed guilty of mismanagement, were intended to protect national industries and services, including SNCM and its employees, notably by avoiding imposing a situation on them which could have provoked social unrest.
fra 2001 til 2002 forværredes årets resultat før skat fra – 5,1 mio. EUR i 2001 til – 5,8 mio. EUR i 2002, og nettounderskuddet i 2002 kunne kun begrænses yderligere ved salg af visse skibe
In reality, even if public bodies, including the State, can be considered in certain circumstances to be de facto managers of an undertaking, there is nothing to indicate that the measure to make good the shortfall can be used to gain insight into the State’s policy decisions, particularly in such circumstances.
SNCM's cash flow, der var på 39,2 mio. EUR ved udgangen af 2001, var faldet til 35,7 mio. EUR ved udgangen af 2002
This is a far cry from the circumstances of the Aspocomp case, which was in no way concerned with such matters.
den finansielle nettogæld, ekskl. leasingaftaler voksede fra 135,8 mio. EUR til 144,8 mio. EUR mellem 2000 og 2002
The Commission considers in any event that the French authorities cannot now avail themselves of political choices made in the past to justify public intervention intended to remedy the effects of those earlier choices.
finansieringsomkostningerne (renter og tilsvarende omkostninger) voksede fra 7,0 mio. EUR i 2000 til 9,503 mio. EUR i 2002.
On the contrary, both cases of intervention, i.e. the interference of the past and the more recent public intervention, should be regarded as cumulative distortions of competition.
De franske myndigheder har desuden over for Kommissionen bekræftet, at bankerne har afvist at yde SNCM yderligere lån med henvisning til virksomhedens gæld, på trods af at denne havde tilbudt at stille sine sidste ubehæftede skibe som sikkerhed.
Accepting the State’s liability for making good the asset shortfall would be tantamount to allowing the State to admit to mismanagement of the undertaking so as to be able to make a financial contribution without its being classed as state aid, thereby engendering a fresh distortion of competition.
Public service-kontrakten ændrede intet ved denne analyse.
The State would effectively be ‘using’ its own mismanagement as justification for granting an additional financial contribution in contradiction with the general principle of ‘nemo auditur propriam turpitudinem allegans’ [151].
Kontrakten skulle ganske vist sammen med den gennemførte omstruktureringsplan gøre det muligt for SNCM på sigt at opnå positive driftsresultater, men virksomhedens akutte mangel på egenkapital, den voksende gæld og omkostningerne ved de driftsmæssige foranstaltninger i omstruktureringsplanen ville i løbet af kort tid bringe SNCM i betalingsstandsning.
It would also be totally contrived to portray the State simultaneously as saint and sinner, i.e. as a ‘bad manager’ (assuming this were proven to be the case) stepping in to bail out the undertaking which it has mismanaged.
Da omstruktureringsperioden strakte sig fra 2002 til 2006, er det nødvendigt at kontrollere, om SNCM opfyldte denne betingelse i den pågældende periode og bl.a. på det tidspunkt, hvor der blev truffet beslutning om nye tilførsler af offentlige midler.
Management errors do not constitute normal behaviour on the part of the prudent private investor in a market economy.
I beslutningen fra 2003 blev det bemærket, at SNCM opfyldte dette kriterium vedrørende regnskabsårene 2001 og 2002 [160].
Accordingly, bail-out mechanisms to set right such errors are not normal behaviour either.
Det skal nu kontrolleres, om SNCM stadig opfyldte denne betingelse i regnskabsårene 2003-2005, dvs. det sidste fulde regnskabsår før gennemførelsen af de nye foranstaltninger i 2006 vedrørende privatiseringen af SNCM.
Accepting the theory advanced by the French authorities and by SNCM would pave the way for the State to award guarantees to undertakings by knowingly ‘making management errors’.
På baggrund af ovenstående finder Kommissionen, at SNCM kan betegnes som kriseramt i den i rammebestemmelserne fra 2004 fastsatte betydning.
This is hardly acceptable in terms of aid discipline.
Egetbidrag
In this case, the conduct that would incur the liability of the State according to the theory expounded by SNCM and the French authorities would in fact only apply to the State’s actions as a public authority, not as a shareholder.
Følgende præciseres i rammebestemmelsernes punkt 44: »Kommissionen vil normalt anse følgende bidrag til omstruktureringen for at være passende: mindst 25 %, når der er tale om små virksomheder, mindst 40 %, når der er tale om mellemstore virksomheder, og mindst 50 %, når der er tale om store virksomheder.
Given that a prudent private investor would not have taken decisions based on these political and public considerations, the risk of having to make good an asset shortfall resulting from such decisions does not come into play for a ‘prudent private investor in a market economy’ test [152].
Under ekstraordinære omstændigheder og i tilfælde af særligt store problemer, som medlemsstaten skal kunne påvise, kan Kommissionen acceptere et mindre bidrag fra virksomheden selv.«
The French authorities point out that in its ABX decision of 7 December 2005 the Commission was willing to take account of the fact that ‘in certain exceptional cases, some national legislation provides for the possibility of third parties to bring proceedings against the shareholders of a liquidated company, in particular if these shareholders may be considered [deleted in the text] and/or as being guilty of mismanagement.’ [153].
Retspraksis understreger ligeledes, at egetbidraget skal vise, at markedet har tillid til, at virksomheden igen kan blive rentabel [161].
However, the Commission underlines that the concept of aid must be assessed objectively and notes that the decision to open proceedings in the same case stipulated that ‘even in the unlikely event that all of these conditions required by national law to hold them accountable … were fulfilled, this would still not rule out the presence of state aid in the measures for the benefit of the subsidiary.’ [154].
Kommissionen understreger, at dette krav er særdeles relevant, når der tale om SNCM på grund af virksomhedens situation siden 2002.
In the present case, the Commission considers that the French authorities have not adequately dispelled its doubts surrounding the assertion that SNCM’s shareholder was at risk, with a sufficient degree of certainty, of being held to account.
Kommissionen minder om, at de oprindelige omstruktureringsforanstaltninger fra 2002 ikke gav de forventede resultater.
In these circumstances, and having refused to take into account the additional redundancy payments (see recitals 225 et seq.), the Commission concludes that liquidating SNCM would have cost the State nothing.
Nogle af dem blev enten ikke respekteret eller blev ikke gennemført (se betragtning 351).
The Commission considers that the State, as shareholder, cannot be obliged to bear the costs of the liquidation because shareholders’ exposure is linked to their capital contribution to the undertaking.
Da SNCM i 2004 ikke var i stand til at gennemføre disse første omstruktureringsforanstaltninger fuldt ud, fortsatte virksomhedens økonomiske og finansielle situation med at forværres (betragtning 73-75).
Conclusion
Omstruktureringsomkostningerne beløb sig til 46 mio. EUR i 2002.
The Commission considers that a private investor would have favoured the less costly solution, i.e. the liquidation of SNCM.
Under alle omstændigheder finder Kommissionen ikke, at der i den foreliggende sag er tale om ekstraordinære omstændigheder, som kan begrunde et lavere egetbidrag end det i rammebestemmelserne fra 2004 påkrævede.
It concludes, therefore, that the negative price of EUR 158 million constitutes State aid.
Kommissionen mener derfor, at SNCM's egetbidrag til omstruktureringen er utilstrækkeligt efter rammebestemmelserne.
EUR 8,75 million capital contribution by CGMF
Genetablering af virksomhedens rentabilitet på lang sigt
In their observations following the decision to open the procedure, the French authorities note that the recapitalisation by the State to the tune of EUR 8,75 million occurred concurrently with capital injections by private investors and that the State took a minority stake while the majority of the funds were provided by the market.
I åbningsbeslutningen udtrykte Kommissionen tvivl om, hvorvidt SNCM's langsigtede rentabilitet kunne genetableres, bl.a. under henvisning til følgende forhold:
Furthermore, they consider that the rate of return on the State’s contribution, i.e. […] [60] Confidential information.
SNCM påtænkte ikke at nedlægge sine tabsgivende aktiviteter
% per annum, constitutes adequate long-term profitability for capital invested by a private investor.
omstruktureringsplanens succes hang tæt sammen med tildelingen af public service-kontrakten mellem Marseille og Korsika i perioden mellem den 1. januar 2007 og 31. december 2012
In their note of 16 May 2013, they also state that the risks connected with the cancellation clause are offset by the repurchase option available to the private shareholders.
den planlagte nedskæring af skibsbesætningen i henhold til planen fra 2002 blev ikke overholdt, og produktivitetsstigningen på 10 % blev ikke nået
The State’s contribution must now be compared with that of the private investors, i.e. EUR 26,25 million.
nedlæggelsen af 400 fuldtidsækvivalente stillinger og de i planen fra 2006 fastsatte produktivitetsforanstaltninger var utilstrækkelige på grund af afvigelserne fra planen fra 2002.
The State’s contribution amounts to EUR 158 million (see section 6.1.2) plus an additional EUR 38,5 million in individual aid and EUR 15,81 million paid under the 2002 plan (see sections 6.1.4 and 6.1.5).
De franske myndigheder svarede, at ændringen i aktionærkredsen og iværksættelsen af privatiseringsplanens tre foranstaltninger ville gøre det muligt for SNCM at udvikle sin virksomhed på et sundt grundlag, og at den tabsgivende karakter af visse dele af virksomheden derfor ikke var uoprettelig.
All of the 2006 measures are set out in the memorandum of understanding in which each of the parties (CGMF, BCP and VT) agreed to the EUR 158 million capital contribution, the EUR 38,5 million current account advance and the EUR 8,75 million capital increase.
Kommissionens ekspert konstaterede, at overtagernes gennemførelse af forretningsplanen blev stærkt forsinket af flere begivenheder [163], og konkluderede, at de kumulerede underskud risikerede at blive langt større end oprindelig forudset for 2007.
These three measures constitute a single operation aimed at privatising SNCM.
Som følge heraf mener Kommissionen ikke, at de franske myndigheders svar har fjernet al dens tvivl.
As the General Court itself observes in paragraph 125 of the judgment of 11 September 2012, ‘That capital contribution [of EUR 8,75 million] takes place in the context of a global sale agreement, resulting from a single set of negotiations, in which the purchasers’ capital constitutes the counterpart to significant commitments, in various forms, made by the French State’.
Det forekom nemlig risikabelt at knytte en genetablering af rentabiliteten sammen med tildeling af public service-kontrakten for 2007-2013 og iværksættelsen af de tre foranstaltninger i privatiseringsplanen, for hvilke lovligheden og foreneligheden med det indre marked ikke var blevet bekræftet.
The three measures in question are therefore to be considered a package and this capital injection into SNCM by the State must be compared with the contribution by private investors for the purposes of assessing the significance of the intervention.
Troværdigheden af en plan for genoprettelse af en virksomheds langsigtede rentabilitet forudsætter i det mindste, at de hypoteser, der lægges til grund, er realistiske.
In the light of the foregoing, the Commission concludes that the private shareholder contribution, i.e. 10,6 % of the total, cannot be considered significant.
Denne fornyelse præsenterer de franske myndigheder imidlertid som det, der gør det muligt at nå målene om genopretning af rentabiliteten.
Regarding the criterion of contributions made under comparable conditions, the Commission notes, firstly, that the interested parties CCF and STIM have called into question the significant nature of the private intervention, and in particular the existence of comparable conditions between the public investment and the private investors, given the presence of a cancellation clause.
Kommissionen mener derfor ikke, at betingelsen om genoprettelse af den langsigtede rentabilitet, som kræves i rammebestemmelserne, er opfyldt.
The Commission considers that the circumstances of this capital increase alone demonstrate that the risks run by the private and public investors are not identical.
Forhindring af urimelige konkurrencefordrejninger (modydelser)
The existence of the cancellation clause and the conditions attached thereto suffice to show that the respective outcome for the private investors and the public investor in terms of risk is not the same should the conditions set out in the clause be fulfilled.
Den annullerede beslutning fra 2008 omfattede fire kompensationsforanstaltninger:
In accordance with the memorandum of understanding, private investors have the option of withdrawing and recovering their investment in the event of a negative decision by the Commission, the General Court or the Court of Justice, or of non-renewal of the public service delegation.
lukning af datterselskabet Corsica Marittima (82000 passagerer i 2000), der sejlede mellem Italien og Korsika, og dermed SNCM-koncernens tilbagetrækning fra det pågældende marked
This latter part of the cancellation clause is all the more penalising for the State as it concerns SNCM’s core activity.
begrænsning af SNCM's samlede antal udbudte pladser og overfarter hvert år, især mellem Nice og Korsika, med virkning fra 2003
Private investors are therefore protected by the cancellation clause against the commercial risk in respect of the majority of SNCM’s activities.
salg af fire skibe.
This risk is actually borne by the State alone.
Kommissionen gør opmærksom på, at de franske myndigheder havde foreslået disse foranstaltninger i forhold til støttebeløbet på 15,81 mio., hvilket svarer til den omstruktureringsstøtte, der blev ydet i 2002.
Invoking the aforementioned cancellation clause would generate an obligation to reimburse all of the capital contributions of the buyers by SNCM for the benefit of these private investors.
Efter annulleringen af beslutningen fra 2008 ved dom af 11. september 2012 er det samlede støttebeløb på over 210 mio. EUR.
This would leave CGMF once more holding 100 % of SNCM’s capital, at a time when the risk of liquidation and hence of the loss of a significant portion of the public investment will have increased substantially.
Kommissionen finder ikke, at dens tvivl har kunnet fjernes af følgende årsager.
As for the promise to purchase by the private shareholders, this cannot be invoked by CGMF in the event of the receivership or liquidation of SNCM.
Vedrørende det planlagte salg af de fire skibe under omstruktureringen i 2002 bemærker Kommissionen, at disse afhændelser delvis blev opvejet af leveringen af Danielle Casanova i juni 2002, de kombinerede passager- og fragtskibe Paglia Orba og Pascal Paoli i 2003.
This confirms that, in the event of difficulties, this option cannot be invoked, and the risks are borne essentially by CGMF and hence the State.
Som følge heraf kan lukningen af Corsica Marittima, der havde været tabsgivende siden sin oprettelse i 1990, ikke betegnes som en kompensationsforanstaltning, men snarere som en foranstaltning, der bidrager til at gøre virksomheden rentabel på lang sigt.
Furthermore, the Commission cannot accept the French authorities’ argument that the memorandum of understanding contained a series of guarantees intended to protect the State’s investment.
Det samme ræsonnement gælder for overfarten mellem Nice og Korsika.
The obligations imposed on the buyers do not constitute additional risks or constraints placed on the buyers that would leave them in a situation comparable to that of CGMF.
Kommissionen bemærker, at SNCM har en mindre markedsandel, idet Corsica Ferries France sidder på 70 % af markedet [164].
They are solely intended to ensure that, during the period in which the cancellation clause may be invoked by the private buyers, the latter do not make any legal modification to SNCM and carry out only those actions which are necessary in order to implement the business plan and the social pact.
Ifølge Stephens-rapporten er der især i sommerperioden en stærk efterspørgsel efter afgangene fra Nice.
Furthermore, as underlined by the General Court in its judgment of 11 September 2012, an analysis of the expected return is not in itself enough to enable the conclusion to be drawn that the investment was made by the State on market conditions, given the fact that the risks are not shared equitably between the public and the private shareholders.
Endvidere er der også uden for sommersæsonen efterspørgsel efter denne rute.
Even if the condition of ‘investments made on equal terms’ (‘pari passu’) is not fulfilled, the measure can still be compliant with the principle of the private investor in a market economy.
Kommissionen bemærker ligeledes, at passagertrafikken er vokset betydeligt mellem Korsika og Toulon havn fra under 200000 passagerer om året i 1999 til næsten 1 mio. i 2007 [165].
In such cases, it has to be shown that the State acted in the same way as a prudent private investor in a similar situation, for example by carrying out ex ante analyses of the profitability of the investment.
Følgelig kan SNCM's tilbagetrækning i næsten fuldt omfang fra denne rute betegnes som en kompensationsforanstaltning.
However the French authorities have not provided proof of any such ex ante analysis.
Kommissionen bemærker dog, at ruten Toulon-Korsika er den mindst vigtige rute for SNCM målt i antal passagerer.
They only considered in their observations ex post that the fixed rate of return of […] [60] Confidential information.