Notice for the OJ
Action brought on 2 September 2004 by FG Marine S.A. against the Commission of the European Communities
(Case T-360/04)
Language of the case: French
An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 2 September 2004 by FG Marine S.A., established in Roissy (France), represented by Marie-Aline Michel, lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
− order the Commission, which incurred non-contractual liability by adopting Decision 2000/513/EC of 8 September 1999 on aid granted by France to Stardust Marine (OJ 1999 L 206, p.6), to compensate the applicant and to find that the compensation to which it is legitimately entitled may not be lower than FF 200 000 000 (EUR 30 489 803. 44).
Pleas in law and main arguments:
The applicant company in the present case, a majority partner in Stardust Marine, submits that the Community incurred non-contractual liability arising from the losses it claims to have suffered as a result of the Commission's decision of 8 September 1999, which declared incompatible with the common market the capital increases, advances on current account and recapitalisations effected within Stardust Marine by Consortium de Réalisation (CDR) as part of Crédit Lyonnais' restructuring plans, and ordered recovery thereof.
The recovery order contained in the aforementioned decision is the reason for Stardust Marine's having tabled its balance sheet, which deprived the applicant of the benefits of the restructuring it effected.
FG Marine states in support of its contentions that the decision contested in the present case disregarded the private investor criterion and was annulled by the Court in its judgment of 16 May 2002 in Case C-482/99 French Republic v Commission.1 In addition, in adopting the decision, the Commission did not place itself in the context as it existed at the time and did not view Crédit Lyonnais and its subsidiaries as shareholders in Stardust Marine, but rather as its bankers. Lastly, the decision at issue here disregarded completely any prospects for recovery which Stardust Marine might have.
____________1 - [2002] ECR I-4397.