Years ago, the airline Condor received more than 300 million euros in aid from the German government. A competitor fought back against this – successfully. Now the dispute is entering the next round.
The EU Commission is taking a close look at German state aid worth millions for the airline Condor. After the European Court of Justice annulled the approval of the aid around two and a half months ago, the Commission is now examining in detail whether the state support is in line with EU law. The authority stresses that the initiation of the investigation does not mean that the aid actually violated EU rules. Germany and other parties involved in the proceedings now have the opportunity to substantiate their positions before the Commission makes a further decision.
In May, the EU General Court annulled the approval and ruled that the Commission had not sufficiently examined whether the aid would guarantee Germany a fair share of Condor’s future value gains. The German state had rescued the airline in 2019 with a loan from the KfW development bank after the then parent company Thomas Cook went bankrupt.
With so-called restructuring aid, Germany wanted to support the airline in the form of two write-offs of 90 and 20.2 million euros, which were part of the 321.2 million euro restructuring plan launched in October 2019. The EU Commission, which as the top competition watchdog ensures that companies do not receive unfair advantages through state aid, approved the plan in 2021. The Irish airline Ryanair fought against this before the EU Court of Justice.
Source: Stern
