Action brought on 3 January 2014 – Banco de Santander and Others v Commission

(Case T-6/14)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicants: Banco de Santander, SA (Santander, Spain); Santander Investment, SA (Santander, Spain); and Naviera Séneca, AIE (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) (represented by: J.L. Buendía Sierra, E. Abad Valdenebro, R. Calvo Salinero, A. Lamadrid de Pablo and A. Biondi, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the General Court should:

annul the contested decision in so far as it categorises the measures which, according to the decision, together constitute the ‘Spanish Tax Lease System’ as new State aid that is incompatible with the internal market;

in the alternative, annul Articles 1 and 4 of the contested decision, which identify the investors in the Economic Interest Groupings (EIGs) as beneficiaries of the alleged aid and as the sole addressees of the order for recovery;

in the alternative, annul Article 4 of the contested decision, in so far as it orders recovery of the alleged aid;

annul Article 4 of the contested decision, in so far as it makes a determination as to the lawfulness of the private contracts between the investors and other entities; and

order the Commission to pay the costs of these proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The pleas in law and main arguments are those put forward in Case T-700/13 Bankia v Commission.