Judgment of the General Court of 20 December 2023 – eins energie in sachsen v Commission

(Case T-59/21) ¹

(Competition – Concentrations – German electricity and gas markets – Decision declaring a concentration compatible with the internal market – Obligation to state reasons – Concept of ‘single concentration’ – Right to effective judicial protection – Right to be heard – Definition of the market – Period of analysis – Assessment of the effects of the transaction on competition – Manifest errors of assessment – Undertakings – Duty of diligence)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co. KG (Chemnitz, Germany) (represented by: I. Zenke and T. Heymann, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: G. Meessen and J. Szczodrowski, acting as Agents, and T. Funke and A. Dlouhy, lawyers)

Interveners in support of the defendant: E.ON SE (Essen, Germany) (represented by: C. Grave, C. Barth and D.-J. dos Santos Goncalves, lawyers), RWE AG (Essen) (represented by: U. Scholz, J. Ziebarth and J. Siegmund, lawyers)

Re:

By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment of Commission Decision C(2019) 6530 final of 17 September 2019 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the internal market and the EEA Agreement (Case M.8870 – E.ON/Innogy).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co. KG to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission, E.ON SE and RWE AG.

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¹ OJ C 138, 19.4.2021.