Action brought on 10 June 2010 - France Télécom v Commission

(Case T-258/10)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: France Télécom (Paris, France) (represented by: M. van der Woude and D. Gillet, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

Declare the present action admissible;

Annul the decision; and

Order the Commission to pay all the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant seeks annulment of Commission Decision C (2009) 7426 final of 30 September 2009, ¹ declaring that the compensation for public service charges in the amount of EUR 59 million, granted by the French authorities to a group of undertakings for the establishment and operation of a very high-speed broadband electronic communications network (project THD 92) in the French Hauts-de-Seine department, does not constitute State aid.

In support of its action, the applicant raises two pleas in law, alleging:

-    an infringement of the notion of State aid for the purposes of Article 107(1) TFEU, since the Commission committed an error of law in applying the four 'Altmark' criteria in the present case, in so far as:

-    Project THD92 does not pursue an objective of general economic interest, but a competitive one on the part of Hauts-de-Seine department as an international business centre;

- Project THD92 is taking place in a 'black area' and does not respond to a market failure;

- the compensation in the amount of EUR 59 million is disproportionate and was granted on the basis of previously unknown selection criteria; and

- an infringement of Article 108(2) TFEU since the Commission infringed the applicant's procedural rights by not initiating the formal investigation procedure, thus depriving the applicant of the possibility of voicing its point of view as an interested third party.

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¹ - State Aid N 331/2008 - France.