Judgment of the General Court of 28 February 2024 – Scandlines Danmark and Scandlines Deutschland v Commission
(Case T-390/20) 1
(State aid – Public financing of the Fehmarn Belt fixed rail-road link – Aid granted by Denmark to Femern – Decision declaring the aid compatible with the internal market – Individual aid – Important project of common European interest – Necessity of the aid – Proportionality – Weighing the beneficial effects of the aid against its adverse effects on trading conditions and on the maintenance of undistorted competition – Communication on the criteria for the analysis of the compatibility with the internal market of State aid to promote the implementation of important projects of common European interest)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Scandlines Danmark ApS (Copenhagen, Denmark), Scandlines Deutschland GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch, lawyer)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: S. Noë, acting as Agent)
Interveners in support of the applicants: European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and M. Honoré, lawyers), Danish Ferry Association (Copenhagen) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and M. Honoré, lawyers), Naturschutzbund Deutschland eV (NABU) (Stuttgart, Germany) (represented by: T. Hohmuth and R. Weyland, lawyers), Verband Deutscher Reeder eV (Hamburg) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and M. Honoré, lawyers), Aktionsbündnis gegen eine feste Fehmarnbeltquerung eV (Fehmarn, Germany) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and W. Mecklenburg, lawyers), Föreningen Svensk Sjöfart (FSS) (Gothenburg, Sweden) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and M. Honoré, lawyers), Rederi AB Nordö-Link (Malmö, Sweden) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and P. Werner, lawyers), Trelleborg Hamn AB (Trelleborg, Sweden) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and I. Ioannidis, lawyers)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Denmark (represented by: M. Søndahl Wolff, acting as Agent, and by R. Holdgaard, lawyer)
Re:
By their action based on Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 1683 final of 20 March 2020 on the State aid SA.39078 – 2019/C (ex 2014/N) which Denmark implemented for Femern A/S (OJ 2020 L 339, p. 1).
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders Scandlines Danmark ApS and Scandlines Deutschland GmbH to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
Orders the Kingdom of Denmark, European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), Danish Ferry Association, Naturschutzbund Deutschland eV (NABU), Verband Deutscher Reeder eV, Aktionsbündnis gegen eine feste Fehmarnbeltquerung eV, Föreningen Svensk Sjöfart (FSS), Rederi AB Nordö-Link and Trelleborg Hamn AB to bear their own costs.
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1 OJ C 279, 24.8.2020.