CJEU – Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2022

1. Introduction

The two Greek cases reported this year both deal with aspects of State aid law, in particular with certain procedural aspects. The first case is case C-429/20 P, Solar Ileias Bompaina v Commission, where the main issue was the concept of “interested party”, which is eligible for initiating proceedings for the annulment of a Commission State aid decision. The second case, C-51/20, Commission v Greece (Récupération d’aides d’État – Ferronickel), concerns infringement proceedings initiated against Greece for failure to comply with a Court decision. The main issue of the proceedings was the method of determination of the financial penalties that S. 64may be imposed on a member state for failure to comply with a judgement of the Court recognising the obligation to recover unlawful and incompatible aid.

Article 107 TFEU defines State aid from a substantive law point of view, and it sets out the conditions under which it may be compatible or declared compatible with the internal market. Article 108 TFEU, on the other side, sets out the procedure for the control of State aid. Unlike other fields of competition law, in State aid law the procedural rules are provided in the Treaty i...