Judgment of the General Court of 8 September 2021 – Naturgy Energy Group v Commission
(Case T-328/18) 1
(State aid – Environmental incentive adopted by Spain in favour of coal-fired power plants – Decision to initiate the procedure laid down by Article 108(2) TFEU – Obligation to state reasons – Manifest error of assessment – Selective nature )
Language of the case: Spanish
Parties
Applicant: Naturgy Energy Group, SA, formerly Gas Natural SDG, SA (Madrid, Spain) (represented by: F. González Díaz and J. Blanco Carol, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: P. Němečková and D. Recchia, acting as Agents)
Interveners in support of the applicant: EDP España, SA (Oviedo, Spain) (represented by: J. Buendía Sierra and A. Lamadrid de Pablo, lawyers), Viesgo Producción, SL, successor in title to Viesgo Generación, SL (Santander, Spain) (represented by: F. Plasencia Sánchez, L. Ques Mena and L. de Pedro Martín, lawyers)
Re:
APPLICATION under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2017) 7733 final of 27 November 2017, concerning State Aid SA.47912 (2017/NN) – Environmental incentive adopted by Spain in favour of coal-fired power plants, initiating the formal investigation procedure laid down by Article 108(2) TFEU.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders Naturgy Energy Group, SA to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
Orders Viesgo Producción, SL and EDP España, SA to bear their own costs.
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1 OJ C 268, 30.7.2018.