The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court dismissing the applicants’ actions which sought the annulment of Commission decision of 15.3.2021 in case SA.55805. In that decision, the Commission found that the extension of the frequency allocations of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) network operators until 2030 by Czechia constitutes ‘no aid’.
In its judgment, the General Court dismissed the actions of the applicants as inadmissible, as they did not sufficiently demonstrate to be individually concerned by the Commission decision. The General Court also confirmed the position of the Commission that the measure was not an aid scheme.

The European Commission has adopted today amendments to its State aid rules to provide public access to justice in environmental matters in relation to EU State aid decisions. For that purpose, the Commission revised rules which allow non-governmental organisations (‘NGOs')  to request a Commission review of certain State aid decisions to establish whether they contravene EU environmental law. This new review mechanism addresses the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee's findings in case ACCC/C/2015/128.  

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €5 billion French re-insurance scheme for export credit to the United States. The scheme will be in place from 8 May 2025 to 8 July 2025 and will allow exporters of wines and spirits to export inventory to the US, prior to the announced new wave of tariffs going into effect.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court, which dismissed Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s application for annulment of a 2017 Commission State aid decision finding that the financing of the operator of Frankfurt-Hahn airport between 2018 – 2022 was in line with EU State aid rules.
Today’s judgment follows a 2021 judgment in which the General Court initially annulled the Commission decision and a 2023 ruling by the Court of Justice, which referred the case back to the General Court following an appeal by Rhineland-Palatinate (majority shareholder of Frankfurt-Hahn at the time), case C-466/21 P. The Court of Justice saw errors in the General Court’s assessment of Deutsche Lufthansa’s AG standing and the admissibility of its action.
The General Court, taking into account the Court of Justice’s ruling, held that the application for annulment should be rejected as inadmissible. In its application, Deutsche Lufthansa AG has not expressly raised a plea alleging an infringement of its procedural rights. Given that the application was already declared inadmissible on that basis, the General Court has left open whether Deutsche Lufthansa AG can be considered as an interested third party.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the Court of Justice on this preliminary reference case. The Court considered that the exemption from the Polish tax on immovable property for land, buildings and structures forming part of railway infrastructure does not appear to be a selective measure.
The Court provided clarifications regarding the assessment of the selectivity of tax exemptions. In particular, the Court explained that a general and abstract tax exemption is in principle part of the normal tax system and is presumed not to confer a selective advantage. However, there are two situations in which such an exemption could be selective. The first is where it forms part of a tax system configured according to manifestly discriminatory parameters. The second is where it benefits only to a consistent category of undertakings because the conditions set by the relevant legislation for benefiting from that exemption are connected with one or more specific characteristics of those undertakings.
The Commission will carefully assess the implications of this judgement.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, restructuring aid of €321.2 million granted by Germany to Condor to enable its return to viability. This decision takes into account the judgment of the General Court from 8 May 2024 annulling a July 2021 decision by the Commission. Condor is a German charter airline, which provides air transport services to individual clients and tour operators from its hubs in Germany, with a focus on the leisure travel market. In September 2019, it had to file for insolvency due to the entry into liquidation of its parent company, the Thomas Cook Group.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €612 million Portuguese scheme to lower electricity levy rates for energy-intensive companies. The scheme intends to reduce the risk that these energy-intensive companies relocate their activities to countries outside the EU with less ambitious climate policies. An energy-intensive company is a business that consumes a large amount of energy as a core part of its production process.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €400 million Spanish State aid scheme to support the production of renewable hydrogen through the European Hydrogen Bank's "Auctions-as-a-Service" tool for the auction closing in 2025. The scheme will contribute to the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal to accelerate the decarbonisation of EU industry while strengthening its competitiveness, of the REPowerEU Plan to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition, as well as the EU Hydrogen Strategy.

The European Commission announced on 9 April the launch of a Design Support Hub for Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), within which it will work closely with Member States to shape and design IPCEI candidates following their endorsement.
More information about the meeting is available on the JEF-IPCEI webpage.

The European Commission has published the 2024 State aid Scoreboard providing a comprehensive overview of State aid expenditure in the EU in 2023. While the overall spending dropped to €186.78 billion in 2023 from €243.27 billion in 2022, Member States channeled 73% of funds towards EU policy objectives, such as environmental protection and energy savings, research, development and innovation, and regional development.In 2022, this share was 49%. The total amount of aid spent on these key objectives increased to €136.78 billion from €119.98 billion.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €1.5 billion (PLN 6.4 billion) Polish scheme to provide State-supported reinsurance of insurance for transport on the territory of Ukraine. The scheme will contribute to maintaining and facilitating trade flows between Ukraine and Poland, the Member State with the longest land border with Ukraine, that have been disrupted by the ongoing Russian military aggression.  

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court, upholding the Commission’s decision of 22 December 2020 approving Polish State aid to LOT under the Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak.
In today’s judgment, the General Court confirmed that the Commission provided sufficient reasoning in its decision for its conclusion that the measure was compatible with the internal market, in particular since it fulfilled the conditions set out in the Temporary Framework with respect to recapitalisation measures.

The European Commission has concluded that an arbitration award, in which Spain is ordered to pay compensation to Antin for the modification of a renewable electricity support measure, constitutes illegal State aid.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €5 billion German scheme to help companies subject to the EU Emission Trading Scheme (‘ETS') decarbonise their production processes. The scheme contributes to the achievement of Germany's energy and climate targets as well as of the EU's sustainable prosperity and competitiveness objectives.

The European Commission has approved a €960 million Czech scheme to support investments in strategic sectors to foster the transition to a net-zero economy. The scheme contributes to the achievement of the priorities of the European Commission for 2024-2029, based on the Political Guidelines, which call for investments in clean energy and technologies. The scheme also contributes to the achievement of the Clean Industrial Deal. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (‘TCTF') adopted by the Commission on 9 March 2023 and amended on 20 November 2023 and on 2 May 2024.

The European Commission has launched today a consultation inviting all interested stakeholders to comment on its draft State aid Framework accompanying the Clean Industrial Deal (‘CISAF').
Interested parties can respond to the consultation until 25 April 2025. The proposal and details about the consultation are available here. 

The Commission takes note of today’s preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice confirming that a public contribution, granted to compensate an undertaking for the closure of a production site, constitutes State aid, provided that it is established, first, that the same undertaking would not have been able to obtain the same advantage in circumstances corresponding to the normal conditions of the market concerned and, second, that there is effective competition on that market.
In particular, the Court of Justice has confirmed that such a public contribution seems to confer an advantage on the beneficiary undertaking by mitigating costs (i.e. the costs for the cessation of the economic activity) that under normal market conditions are included in the budget of any undertaking.

The Commission takes note of the Judgment of the General Court upholding a 2022 Com-mission's decision, not to raise objections to a Spanish and Portuguese measure aiming to reduce electricity wholesale prices in the Iberian market.
In its Judgment, the General Court held that the Commission was right in finding that there was no serious doubts that the measure was compatible with EU State aid rules and EU En-ergy law. In essence, the General Court held that the Commission did not commit an error by not taking the applicants’ specific position on the electricity market into account. The General Court held that there was no discrimination and that the Commission was correct in finding the measure proportionate.

The Commission announced in the Clean Industrial Deal Communication its intention to simplify State aid rules by adopting a new Clean Industrial Deal State aid Framework to accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy, deploy industrial decarbonisation and ensure sufficient capacity of clean tech manufacturing in Europe. With this consultation, the Commission seeks the views of relevant stakeholders on a draft for this framework to be adopted by June 2025.
Interested parties can respond to the consultation until 25 April 2025.
See also the Commission's press release.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €400 million Austrian State aid scheme, and a €36 million Lithuanian State aid scheme, to support the production of renewable hydrogen through the European Hydrogen Bank's “Auctions-as-a-Service” tool for the auction closing in 2025. The schemes will contribute to the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal to accelerate the decarbonisation of EU industry while strengthening its competitiveness, of the REPowerEU Plan to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition, as well as the EU Hydrogen Strategy