25.6.2011   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 186/14

Action brought on 18 April 2011 — European Commission v Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-184/11)

2011/C 186/25

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: B. Stromsky and C. Urraca Caviedes, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain

Form of order sought

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Declare that the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Commission Decisions 2002/820/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme implemented by Spain for firms in Álava in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45 % of investments (OJ 2002 L 296, p. 1); 2002/892/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established firms in Álava (OJ 2002 L 314, p. 1); 2003/27/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme implemented by Spain for firms in Vizcaya in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45 % of investments (OJ 2003 L 17, p. 1); 2002/806/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established firms in Vizcaya (OJ 2002 L 279, p. 35); 2002/894/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme implemented by Spain for firms in Guipúzcoa in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45 % of investments (OJ 2002 L 314, p. 26); 2002/540/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established firms in Guipúzcoa (OJ 2002 L 174, p. 31) (‘the 2001 decisions’) as well as under Article 260 TFEU, by failing to take all the measures necessary to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice of 14 December 2006 in Commission v Spain (Joined Cases C-485/03 to C-490/03 [2006] ECR I-11887; ‘the 2006 judgment’), relating to Spain’s failure to fulfil its obligations under those decisions.

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Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay to the Commission a penalty payment in the amount of EUR 236 044,80 for every day of delay in complying with the judgment, from the day on which the judgment is delivered in this case until the day on which the 2006 judgment is fully complied with.

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Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay to the Commission a lump sum, the amount of which is calculated by multiplying a daily amount of EUR 25 817,40 by the number of days on which the infringement continues from the date on which the 2006 judgment was delivered until:

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the date on which the Kingdom of Spain recovers the aid declared illegal by the 2001 decisions, if the Court of Justice holds that the recovery has in fact been carried out before judgment in this case is handed down.

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the date on which the judgment in this case is delivered, if the 2006 judgment has not been fully complied with by that date.

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Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission considers that the Spanish authorities have not taken all the measures necessary to comply with the 2006 judgment since they have not recovered all the aid declared illegal and incompatible in the 2001 decisions. Firstly, the Spanish authorities considered certain individual aid to be compatible with the internal market without that aid fulfilling the requirements of a national aid scheme approved by the Commission and without, in any case, fulfilling the requirements set out in the Guidelines on national regional aid (OJ 1998 C 74, p. 9). Secondly, the Spanish authorities applied a deduction to certain beneficiaries of up to EUR 100 000 per beneficiary for a period of three years without respecting the rules relating to de minimis aid. Thirdly, in some cases the Spanish authorities retrospectively applied tax deductions provided for in Spanish tax laws although not all the requirements laid down by Spanish legislation for the application of such deductions were fulfilled. Finally, fourthly, not all of the payment orders issued by the Spanish authorities were paid by the beneficiaries of illegal aid. According to the Commission’s calculations, the amounts for which recovery is pending represent approximately 87 % of the total illegal aid to be recovered.