Open AccessEvaluation of Pre-accession State Aid in the Energy Sector. Case Comment to the Judgment of the Court of Justice of 1 October 2015 Electrabel SA, Dunamenti Erőmű Zrt. v European Commission (Case C-357/14 P)
Author(s) -
Tihamér Tóth
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
yearbook of antitrust and regulatory studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2545-0115
pISSN - 1689-9024
DOI - 10.7172/1689-9024.yars.2016.9.14.16
Subject(s) - accession , annulment , state (computer science) , law , economic justice , political science , member state , commission , european union , member states , business , international trade , computer science , algorithm
The European Commission decided in 2008 that Hungary provided State aid through a set of Power Purchase Agreements1. Electrabel SA (hereinafter, Electrabel) and Dunamenti Erőmű Zrt. (hereinafter, Dunamenti Erőmű) brought an action for annulment against this decision that was dismissed by the General Court in 2014. One year later, the Court of Justice confirmed the first instance ruling, even though Advocate General Wathelet was of the opinion that the contested judgment should be set aside. According to the Advocate General (hereinafter, AG), the case raised three difficult issues: (i) is the relevant date for the assessment of the existence of the aid the date on which the measure was implemented (well before Hungary’s EU accession) or the date of the accession; (ii) should the date of accession be the relevant date, do facts prior to that date have to be included in the assessment of the existence of State aid, and (iii) which company should repay the aid granted.