Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 27 February 2014 – Stichting Woonlinie, Stichting Allee Wonen, Woningstichting Volksbelang, Stichting WoonInvest, Stichting Woonstede v European Commission
(Case C-133/12 P) 1
(Appeal – State aid – Scheme for aid granted in favour of housing corporations – Compatibility decision – Commitments provided by the national authorities in order to comply with European Union law – Fourth paragraph of Article 263 TFEU – Action for annulment – Conditions governing admissibility – Interest in bringing proceedings – Locus standi – Beneficiaries who are individually and directly concerned – Notion of a ‘closed circle’)
Language of the case: Dutch
Parties
Appellants: Stichting Woonlinie, Stichting Allee Wonen, Woningstichting Volksbelang, Stichting WoonInvest, Stichting Woonstede (represented by: P. Glazener and E. Henny, advocaten)
Other party to the proceedings: European Commission (represented by: H. van Vliet, S. Noë and S. Thomas, Agents)
Re:
Appeal brought against the order of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 16 December 2011 in Case T-202/10 Stichting Woonlinie and Others v Commission by which the General Court dismissed as inadmissible an application for annulment in part of Commission Decision C(2009) 9963 final of 15 December 2009 relating to State aid E 2/2005 and N 642/2009 – Netherlands – Existing and special project aid to housing corporations.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Sets aside the order of the General Court of the European Union of 16 December 2011 in Case T-202/10 Stichting Woonlinie and Others v Commission in so far as it declares inadmissible the action brought by Stichting Woonlinie, Stichting Allee Wonen, Woningstichting Volksbelang, Stichting WoonInvest and Stichting Woonstede for annulment of Commission Decision C(2009) 9963 final of 15 December 2009 relating to State aid No E 2/2005 and N 642/2009 – The Netherlands – Existing and special project aid to housing corporations, in so far as that decision concerns aid measure E 2/2005;
Declares the action for annulment referred to in paragraph 1 of the present operative part to be admissible;
Refers the case back to the General Court of the European Union for a decision on the merits concerning the action for annulment referred to in paragraph 1 of the present operative part;
Reserves the costs.
____________1 OJ C 138, 12.5.2012.