The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €724 million (DKK 5.4 billion) Danish scheme to lower the rate of a new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions tax for certain companies. The measure aims to prevent the risk of carbon leakage, where companies relocate production outside of the EU to countries with less ambitious climate policies, resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions globally.
State aid
The European Commission has concluded that two Swedish tax exemption schemes for non-food-based biogas and bio-propane used for heating or as motor fuel are in line with EU State aid rules. In June 2020, the Commission had approved the schemes under EU State aid rules, but the Commission's decisions were annulled by the General Court on 21 December 2022.
The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court which dismissed the applications for annulment by two companies against a 2020 Commission Decision. In its decision, the Commission found that the implementation of the Madeira Free Zone aid scheme (Regime III) in Portugal was not in line with the Commission's State aid decisions of 2007 and 2013. The objective of the approved measure was to contribute to the economic development of the outermost region of Madeira through tax incentives for companies creating jobs in Madeira and for activities effectively and materially performed in that region.
In its judgment, the General Court upholds the Commission’s findings that the scheme was implemented in breach of the criteria set out in the initial decisions approving it.
This judgment confirms the previous findings of the General Court in other appeal cases, especially those brought by Portugal (T-95/21, judgment upheld on appeal in Case C-736/22 P) and the region of Madeira (T-131/21, judgment pending appeal), which were both rejected respectively in 2022 and 2023.
The subject of this call for tenders is expert consultancy services and reports in the context of the State aid framework applicable to financial institutions.
The call for tenders is divided into three lots. Lot 1 will be used for the determination of whether a measure is in line with the Impaired Assets Communication, incorporating detailed asset valuations. Lot 2 will be used to obtain external support for determining whether a valuation that is conducted by another party is based on appropriate and consistent methodologies. Lot 3 will be used when expert support is needed for market conformity assessments in non-impaired asset measures, such as public guarantee measures, equity injections, or funding support. The Commission anticipates to utilize the expert support services on multiple occasions over the next few years.
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €128 million Swedish measure to support SSAB in decarbonising its steel production. The measure will contribute to the achievement of the European Green Deal and the Green Deal Industrial Plan targets, while also helping to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition, in line with the REPowerEU Plan.”
The European Commission has approved two Luxembourgish schemes with a total budget of €520 million to help manufacturing companies to decarbonise their production processes and to support investments in strategic sectors to foster the transition to a net-zero economy. The schemes were 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 approved, under EU State aid rules, a €1 billion Italian scheme to support farmers affected by flood and landslide events in certain regions of Italy.
The Commission takes note of today’s judgments by the Court of Justice of the EU, upholding a 2021 Commission State aid decision. In its decision, the Commission had approved, under the COVID Temporary Framework, a German “umbrella” scheme to support uncovered fixed costs of companies affected by coronavirus outbreak. This umbrella scheme allowed the German authorities to set up schemes to support companies that suffered from a turnover decline between March 2020 and June 2021 of at least 30% compared to the same period of 2019.
In its judgments, the Court of Justice of the EU fully upheld the Commission decision. In particular, the Court found that the Commission had correctly assessed the condition of 30% decline in turnover.
See also E. Breuninger v Commission.
The European Commission has approved a €1.2 billion Polish scheme to support investments in electricity storage facilities to foster the transition to a net-zero economy. 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.
(Joined Cases T-624/15 RENV, T-694/15 RENV, T-704/15 RENV)
The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court upholding a 2015 Commission State aid decision. In its decision, the Commission had found that Romania’s implementation of the arbitration award Micula v Romania of 11 December 2013 constituted new unlawful and incompatible State aid, since it entailed the payment of compensation for forgone State aid following the repeal of an illegal State aid scheme. The Commission decision therefore prohibits Romania from paying out any compensation under the arbitral award and obliges Romania to recover any paid amount.
In its judgment, the General Court fully confirmed the Commission decision, as the COM decision also prohibits Romania to further pay any compensation and to recover any payment done under the arbitral award.
The European Commission has approved a €1 billion Portuguese scheme to support investments for the production of equipment necessary to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy, in line with the Green Deal Industrial Plan. 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.
On 26 September 2024, the Court of Justice delivered its judgment in four sets of joined cases: (a) joined cases C-790/21 P, Covestro Deutschland v Commission and C-791/21 P, Germany v Covestro Deutschland and Commission; (b) joined cases C-792/21 P, AZ v Commission and C-793/21 P, Germany v AZ and Commission; (c) joined cases C-794/21 P, Germany v Infineon Technologies Dresden and Others and C-800/21 P, Infineon Technologies and Infineon Technologies Dresden v Commission; (d) joined cases C-795/21 P, WEPA Hygieneprodukte and WEPA Deutschland v Commission and C-796/21 P, Germany v WEPA Hygieneprodukte and Others.
The cases concern a German scheme (SA.34045) for the exemption of stable baseload electricity consumers from network charges between 2011 and 2013
The Commission takes note of the judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU, upholding in full the 2021 rulings by the General Court and hence the 2018 Commission State aid decision.
In its decision, the Commission had found that certain exemptions from network charges for baseload electricity consumers in Germany in the years 2012 and 2013 amounted to illegal and incompatible State aid.
Today’s judgments confirmed the Commission’s finding that the scheme involved the use of State resources and thus constituted State aid, which the Commission had found to be incompatible with the internal market.
The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU, upholding in full a 2019 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission had found that JCDecaux Street Furniture Belgium received incompatible aid in the form of tax and royalty exemptions for the occupation of the public domain, by continuing the use of certain advertising panels in the City of Brussels beyond the foreseen date of removal. The Commission had therefore ordered Belgium to recover the incompatible aid, plus interest.
The Commission takes note of today's judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union annulling the General Court’s judgement of 2022 and the Commission decision of 2019. In its decision, the Commission had found that part of the UK’s Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) legislation, which included a special derogation rule for certain financing income of multinational groups active in the UK (the ‘Group Financing Exemption’), constituted unlawful and incompatible State aid.
The Commission will carefully study the judgment and assess its implications.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €2.7 billion Austrian scheme to support companies active in the industrial sector to decarbonise their production processes. The measure will contribute to the implementation of Austria's National Energy and Climate Plan and to the achievement of the European Green Deal targets, while helping to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels in line with the REPowerEU Plan.
The European Commission has approved an around €1.2 billion (PLN 5 billion) Polish scheme to support investments in strategic sectors to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy. 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 approved a €682 million Belgian scheme to support renewable offshore wind energy to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy. 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 Commission takes note of today's preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice according to which, pursuant to Article 108(3) TFEU, where a VAT exemption enjoyed by certain par-ties constitutes unlawful State aid, a party who has not benefited from such an exemption cannot receive, in the form of damages, an amount equivalent to the VAT paid.
In light of that conclusion, the Court of Justice considered unnecessary to answer the ques-tion as to whether the VAT exemption at stake in the national proceedings, enjoyed by cer-tain gambling operators, constituted State aid.
The Commission will study the judgment and assess its possible implications for its case practice.
The Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the sale of the Nürburgring racetrack complex in Germany to Capricorn Nürburgring Besitzgesellschaft GmbH (‘Capricorn') is in line with EU State aid rules. The measure was found to be in line with State aid rules in October 2014, but the Commission's decision was annulled by the Court of Justice on 2 September 2021.
The Commission takes note of the Court of Justice's judgment confirming the Commission’s decision of 30 August 2016 finding that Ireland granted unlawful State aid to Apple through selective tax breaks, which Ireland now has to recover.
The Court of Justice confirmed the Commission's approach that the intellectual property licences held by Apple's Irish subsidiaries and related profits should have been allocated to the Irish branches. And that Apple should have paid taxes worth 13 billion euros on all related profits in Ireland.
This means that the recovered taxes, which have been in an escrow account for quite some years in Ireland during the ongoing court proceedings, now must be released to the Irish State.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format), as well as the remarks by Executive Vice-President Vestager.