Judgment of the General Court of 11 July 2014 — Telefónica de España and Telefónica Móviles España v Commission
(Case T-151/11) 1
(State aid — Public service broadcasting — Aid planned by Spain for RTVE — Alteration of the funding scheme — Replacement of advertising revenues by new taxes on television and telecommunication operators — Decision declaring the new funding scheme compatible with the internal market — Procedural rights — New aid — Alteration of the existing aid scheme — Fiscal measure constituting the method by which the aid measure is financed — Tax necessarily hypothecated to the aid — Direct impact of the revenue of the tax on the amount of the aid — Proportionality — Duty to state reasons)
Language of the case: Spanish
Parties
Applicants: Telefónica de España, SA (Madrid, Spain); and Telefónica Móviles España, SA (Madrid) (represented by: F. González Díaz and F. Salerno, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: G. Valero Jordana and C. Urraca Caviedes, acting as Agents)
Interveners in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented initially by M. Muñoz Pérez, subsequently by S. Centeno Huerta and N. Díaz Abad, subsequently by N. Díaz Abad, and lastly by M. Sampol Pucurull, abogados del Estado); and Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, SA (RTVE) (Madrid) (represented by A. Martínez Sánchez, A. Vázquez-Guillén Fernandez de la Riva and J. Rodríguez Ordóñez, lawyers)
Re:
Application for the annulment of Commission Decision 2011/1/EU of 20 July 2010 on the State aid scheme C 38/09 (ex NN 58/09) which Spain is planning to implement for Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE) (OJ 2011 L 1, p. 9).
Operative part of the judgment
The action is dismissed.
Telefónica de España, SA and Telefónica Móviles España, SA shall bear their own costs and pay jointly the costs incurred by the European Commission and Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, SA (RTVE).
The Kingdom of Spain shall bear its own costs.
________________________1 OJ C 145, 14.5.2011.