C-490/23 P: The Court of Justice provides further guidance on the statement of reasons in state aid decisions
Today, the Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered its judgment in the appeal brought by Italian airline Neos SpA and set aside the judgment of the General Court (GC) of 24 May 2023 (T-268-21 Ryanair v Commission (Italy; aid scheme; COVID-19)).
The General Court had annulled the Commission’s decision on Italy’s COVID-19 aid scheme for airlines (SA.59029) was based on the finding that the Commission had failed to adequately justify its analysis of whether a specific condition of the scheme related to Rome I Regulation and Article 56 TFEU regarding the payment of a minimum remuneration to employees.
The ECJ set this judgment aside and clarified that, given the extremely large number of provisions and principles of EU law that may be infringed by the grant of aid, the Commission is not required to explicitly address all such provisions in its reasoning, unless they are clearly relevant or infringed, without undermining the effectiveness of the State aid control procedure.
For further information, see the ECJ’s judgment.