Judgment of the General Court of 24 March 2011 - Freistaat Sachsen and Others v Commission

(Joined Cases T-443/08 and T-455/08) ¹

(State aid - Aid for Leipzig/Halle Airport - Funding of investments relating to the construction of the new southern runway - Decision declaring aid compatible with the common market - Actions for annulment - No interest in bringing proceedings - Inadmissibility - Concept of 'undertaking' - Concept of 'economic activity' - Airport infrastructure)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicants: Freistaat Sachsen (Germany) and Land Sachsen-Anhalt (Germany) (represented by U. Soltész, lawyer) (Case T-443/08); Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG (Leipzig, Germany) and Flughafen Leipzig/Halle GmbH) (Leipzig) (represented by: M. Núñez-Müller, lawyer) (Case T-455/08)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: K. Gross, B. Martenczuk and E. Righini, Agents)

Interveners in support of the applicants: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by M. Lumma and B. Klein, Agents); and Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen eV (ADV) (represented by L. Giesberts, lawyer)

Re:

Application for partial annulment of Commission Decision 2008/948/EC of 23 July 2008 on measures by Germany to assist DHL and Leipzig/Halle Airport (OJ 2008 L 346, p. 1).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Joins Cases T-443/08 and T-455/08 for the purposes of judgment;

Dismisses the action in Case T-443/08 as inadmissible;

Annuls Article 1 of Commission Decision 2008/948/EC of 23 July 2008 on measures by Germany to assist DHL and Leipzig/Halle Airport in so far as it fixes at EUR 350 million the amount of State aid which the Federal Republic of Germany intends to grant to Leipzig/Halle Airport for the construction of a new southern runway and related airport infrastructure;

Dismisses the remainder of the action in Case T-455/08;

Orders Freistaat Sachsen and Land Sachsen-Anhalt to bear their own costs and to pay the European Commission's costs in Case T-443/08;

Orders Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG and Flughafen Leipzig/Halle GmbH to bear their own costs;

Orders the Commission bear its own costs in Case T-455/08;

Orders the Federal Republic of Germany and Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen eV (ADV) to bear their own costs in Cases T-443/08 and T-455/08.

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¹ - OJ C 237, 20.12.2008.