Action brought on 3 October 2008 - Studio Vacanze v Commission

(Case T-436/08)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: Studio Vacanze (Budoni, Italy) (represented by: M. Cannata, lawyer)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Forms of order sought

Principal forms of order sought:

Annul the decision of the Commission of the European Communities of 2 July 2008;

Order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Alternative form of order sought:

Annul Article 2(2) of the contested decision in so far as it orders recovery of the aid found to be incompatible, together with interest, as from the date on which the amounts were made available to the recipients until the date of their actual recovery.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The decision contested in the present case is the same as that at issue in Case T-394/08 Regione Sardegna v Commission and Case T-408/08 S.F. Turistico Immobiliare v Council and Commission.

The applicant relies on the following pleas in support of its action:

infringement of Article 16 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty, ² in so far as that provision authorises the opening of the formal investigation procedure only in cases of 'misuse of aid' and not for the 'creation of unlawful aid': it follows, according to the applicant, that the entire formal investigation procedure is invalid;

failure to state adequate reasons as regards the amendment of the subject-matter of the procedure opened for the misuse of aid measure No 278/99, and the 'extension' which led to the adoption of the contested decision;

infringement of Article 88(2) EC in so far as the statement in recital 74 of the decision, regarding the unlawful implementation of the aid in question, is outside the scope of that provision;

breach of the principle of transparency;

failure to state adequate reasons as regards the principle of the reasonable duration of the formal investigation procedure;

failure to state reasons as regards the recovery of the aid already disbursed, having regard to the fact that this point was also of particular importance in relation to the principle of the protection of legitimate interests of third parties and to the unreasonably lengthy duration of the proceedings;

breach of the de minimis principle laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 69/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid. 

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¹ - OJ 1999 L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.

² - OJ 2001 L 10, 13.1.2001, p. 30.