Appeal brought on 14 December 2023 by the European Commission against the judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) delivered on 27 September 2023 in Joined Cases T-12/15, T-158/15 and T-258/15, Banco Santander and Others v Commission

(Case C-777/23 P)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Appellant: European Commission (represented by: B. Stromsky, C. Urraca Caviedes and P. Němečková, acting as Agents)

Other parties to the proceedings:

Banco Santander, SA and Santusa Holding, SL

Abertis Infraestructuras, SA and Abertis Telecom Satélites, SA,

Axa Mediterranean Holding, SA

Form of order sought

The appellant claims that the Court of Justice should:

annul the judgment of the General Court of 27 September 2023 in Joined Cases Banco Santander and Others v European Commission (T-12/15, T-158/15 and T-258/15, EU:T:2023:583);

dismiss the actions for annulment in Cases T-12/15 (Banco Santander and Santusa v Commission), T-158/15 (Abertis Infraestructuras and Abertis Telecom Satélites v Commission) and T-258/15 (Axa Mediterranean Holding v Commission);

order the applicants at first instance to bear their own costs and to pay the costs incurred by the European Commission in respect of both the proceedings at first instance and the present appeal.

Grounds of appeal and main arguments

The appellant relies on three grounds of appeal and submits that the General Court made the following errors of law:

Error of law as to the scope of the initial decisions in that it failed to take into account the information provided by the Member State (first ground of appeal);

Error of law as to the relevance of a binding administrative practice in that it held that it could not extend the scope of an aid scheme (second ground of appeal); and

Error of law in the interpretation and application of the principle of legitimate expectations to the aid scheme at issue (third ground of appeal).

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