Judgment of the General Court of 13 December 2018 — Scandlines Danmark and Scandlines Deutschland v Commission
(Case T-630/15) 1
(State aid — Public financing of the Fehmarn Belt fixed link rail-road project — Individual aid — Decision not to raise any objections — Decision finding no State aid and declaring the aid compatible with the internal market — Definition of State aid — Adverse effect on competition and effect on trade between Member States — Conditions governing compatibility — Aid to promote the execution of an important project of common European interest — Necessity of the aid — Incentive effect — Proportionality of the aid — Serious difficulties justifying the initiation of the formal investigation procedure — Obligation to state reasons — Communication on State aid to promote the execution of important projects of common European interest)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Scandlines Danmark ApS (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Scandlines Deutschland GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) (represented by: initially L. Sandberg-Mørch and M.-E. Vitali, and subsequently L. Sandberg-Mørch, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: L. Armati, L. Flynn and S. Noë, acting as Agents)
Interveners in support of the applicant: Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) eV (Stuttgart, Germany) (represented by: T. Hohmuth, lawyer); and Föreningen Svensk Sjöfart (Gothenburg, Sweden) (represented by: L. Sandberg-Mørch and J. Buendía Sierra, lawyers)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Denmark (represented by: initially C. Thorning, and subsequently J. Nymann-Lindegren, acting as Agents, and R. Holdgaard, lawyer)
Re:
Application pursuant to Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2015) 5023 final of 23 July 2015 on State aid SA.39078 (2014/N) (Denmark) for the financing of the Fehmarn Belt fixed link project (OJ 2015 C 325, p. 5).
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Commission Decision C(2015) 5023 final of 23 July 2015 on State aid SA.39078 (2014/N) (Denmark) for the financing of the Fehmarn Belt fixed link project (OJ 2015 C 325, p. 5) in so far as the Commission decided not to raise any objections to the measures granted by the Kingdom of Denmark to Femern A/S for the planning, construction and operation of the Fehmarn Belt fixed link;
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and to pay the costs incurred by Scandlines Danmark ApS and Scandlines Deutschland GmbH;
Orders the Kingdom of Denmark, Föreningen Svensk Sjöfart and Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) eV to bear their own costs.
____________
1 OJ C 59, 15.2.2016.