During the pandemic, the EU Commission allowed states to help airlines with billions. In two cases, the authority supports this, although a court sees it differently. The final word is still pending.
From the EU Commission’s point of view, billions in state aid from France and the Netherlands for the airline Air France-KLM during the corona pandemic were rightly approved. 10.4 billion euros in state aid for the Lufthansa competitor is compatible with the state aid rules of the community of states, the Brussels authority announced. The EU General Court had recently ruled that the state funds permitted by the Commission in 2020 were illegal. The case is now going before the European Court of Justice. German billions in aid for Lufthansa are currently being re-investigated by the Commission following a similar ruling.
According to the information, the EU Commission’s approval in spring and summer 2020 involved a French state guarantee for loans of four billion euros and a loan of three billion euros. The Netherlands supported the project with a guarantee for loans of 2.4 billion euros and a loan of one billion euros.
Commission: Aid was necessary, appropriate and proportionate
The General Court of the EU annulled both decisions of the EU Commission in December 2023 and in February of this year. According to the General Court, the Commission wrongly considered Air France and KLM to be the sole beneficiaries of the French and Dutch aid measures respectively. The Commission appealed against both judgments.
After re-examining the measures, the Commission has now concluded that both measures are compatible with the current EU state aid rules. The combination of all French and Dutch measures also did not lead to an incompatible cumulation of aid. The combined amounts remained below the applicable ceilings. “The Commission concluded that the measures contributed to addressing the economic impact of the coronavirus in France and the Netherlands.” They were necessary, appropriate and proportionate.
German aid for Lufthansa comes under scrutiny again
Last week, the EU Commission announced that it would re-investigate billions in state aid for Lufthansa. An in-depth investigation is to clarify whether the German state aid from 2020, which has long since been repaid, was in line with European competition rules. The initiation of an investigation says nothing about its outcome, the authority stressed.
The background here is also a ruling by the EU General Court. The judges ruled that the Commission should not have approved German state aid amounting to around six billion euros. The officials made several errors in their assessment, so the Commission’s approval was declared void.
Source: Stern
