Judgment of the General Court of 9 November 2022 – Ryanair v Commission (Croatia Airlines; COVID-19)

(Case T-111/21) ¹

(State aid – Croatian air transport market – Aid granted by Croatia to an airline in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic – Direct grant – Decision not to raise any objections – Action for annulment – Individual concern – Admissibility – Serious difficulties – Aid intended to make good the damage caused by an exceptional occurrence – Equal treatment – Freedom of establishment – Free provision of services – Assessment of the damage – Obligation to state reasons)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Ryanair DAC (Swords, Ireland) (represented by E. Vahida, F.-C. Laprévote, V. Blanc, S. Rating and I.-G. Metaxas-Maranghidis, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by L. Flynn and C. Georgieva, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the defendant: Republic of Croatia (represented by G. Vidović Mesarek, acting as Agent)

Re:

By its action on the basis of Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 8608 final of 30 November 2020 on State aid SA.55373 (2020/N) – Croatia – COVID-19: Damage compensation to Croatia Airlines (OJ 2021 C 17, p. 1).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Ryanair DAC to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;

Orders the Republic of Croatia to bear its own costs.

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¹     OJ C 138, 19.4.2021.