Competition Weekly e-news

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Varian Medical Systems by Siemens AG, through its subsidiary Siemens Healthineers. The approval is conditional on full compliance with the commitments offered by Siemens to ensure the interoperability of the companies' medical imaging and radiotherapy solutions with third-party solutions.

The European Commission has adopted final measures to preserve the divestment of the former Aleris plant in Duffel, Belgium, by Novelis under the EU Merger Regulation. To obtain clearance of its acquisition of Aleris in 2019, Novelis offered to divest the plant in binding commitments but failed to close the sale within the deadline set in those commitments, despite extensions granted.

The Commission takes note of today's judgments of the General Court which upheld two 2020 Commission State aid decisions approving, respectively, a French scheme deferring the payment by airlines of certain taxes to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak and a Swedish guarantee scheme to support airlines affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Importantly, the General Court upheld important aspects of the Commission's assessment framework under the two main legal bases (namely Article 107(2) TFEU on damage compensation and the State aid Temporary Framework) that Member States have used to provide support to undertakings in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

In particular, the General Court found that the French and Swedish schemes approved by the Commission were necessary, appropriate and proportionate and do not constitute a breach of the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality nor do they involve an unjustified restriction on the freedom to provide services.

See also:

• General Court of the European Union's press release in Case T-238/20
• General Court of the European Union's judgement in Case T-259/20
• General Court of the European Union's press release in Case T-259/20

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