Cases T-185/15, T-186/15 - Buonotourist, CSTP Azienda della Mobilità vs. European Commission

The Commission welcomes the judgments by the General Court, which upholds its findings that certain subsidies granted by Italy to local bus operators Buonotourist and CSTP in the Campania region gave those companies an unfair advantage over competitors, in breach of EU State aid rules. Public financing of services of general economic interest is perfectly fine under EU law, as far as it compensates companies that have been entrusted with public service obligations for a genuine additional burden linked to the delivery of these services. However, the parameters for calculating the level of compensation must be established in advance, in an objective and transparent manner. This was not the case for the compensation in question, which was requested and fixed several years after the services had been rendered and did not correspond to any identifiable additional burden linked to those services.

Case T-185/15 Buonotourist
Case T-186/15 CSTP Azienda della Mobilità