Judgment of the General Court First Chamber of 19 October 2022, Greece v Commission, T-850/19

• Date: 19 October 2022
• Year: 2022

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In the third place, as regards the complaint based on the limitation period for recovery of some of the

aid paid, the Court notes that, where a Commission decision has found an aid scheme to be unlawful

and incompatible with the internal market, the mere fact that some individual aid paid under that

scheme is subject to a limitation period for recovery cannot result in annulment of that decision. In

that regard, it is for the national authorities under an obligation immediately and effectively to

recover that aid to determine, having regard to the particular circumstances of each beneficiary of an

aid scheme, whether each of those beneficiaries must actually repay that aid.

Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 19 October 2022, Greece v Commission,

T-850/19

State aid – Activities linked to the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products – State

aid schemes established by Greece in the form of interest subsidies and State guarantees on existing

loans and new loans in order to make good the damage caused by natural disasters or exceptional

occurrences – Decision declaring the aid schemes incompatible with the internal market and unlawful and

ordering recovery of the aid paid – Aid limited to affected geographical areas – Advantage – Selective

nature – Principle of sound administration – Duration of the procedure – Legitimate expectation –

Limitation period – Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2015/1589

In 2014, the European Commission received a complaint concerning aid granted by the Hellenic

Republic to Sogia Ellas, a company operating in the agricultural products processing sector, consisting

of interest subsidies and State guarantees on existing loans and new loans. That aid formed part of a

package of State measures designed to support undertakings established in areas of Greece which

had been affected by serious fires in 2007.

Following that complaint, the Commission initiated an investigation procedure concerning non -

notified aid in the Greek agricultural sector.

By decision of 7 October 2019

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(‘the contested decision’), the Commission found that the aid

schemes implemented by the Hellenic Republic in the agricultural sector in the form of interest

subsidies and guarantees linked to the fires of 2007 (‘the measures at issue’) constituted unlawful

State aid incompatible with the internal market and ordered the recovery of that aid.

The action for annulment brought by the Hellenic Republic against that decision is dismissed by the

General Court. In that context, the Court provides clarification on the application of Article 107(1) and

(2)(b) TFEU concerning aid granted following a natural disaster.

Findings of the Court

In the first place, the Court recalls that, in order for State measures to be classified as State aid for the

purposes of Article 107(1) TFEU, they must, among other conditions, confer a selective advantage on

the beneficiaries.

As to whether the measures at issue conferred an advantage, the Court confirms the Commission’s

finding that the beneficiaries could not have secured the advantage derived from the measures at

issue under normal market conditions.

Against that backdrop, the Court rejects the Hellenic Republic’s argument that the measures at issue,

which were granted in the context of a market crisis, fall within the remit of the State’s social

responsibility and therefore meet a long-term economic rationality test. In that regard, the Court

points out that the concept of ‘normal market conditions’ refers to the possibility for the undertaking

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Commission Decision (EU) 2020/394 of 7 October 2019 concerning the measures SA.39119 (2016/C) (ex 2015/NN) (ex 2014/CP) implemented

by the Hellenic Republic in the form of interest subsidies and guarantees linked to the fires of 2007 (OJ 2020 L 76, p. 4).