AG Biondi’s Opinion concludes national procedural safeguards cannot delay recovery of illegal State aid
Advocate General Biondi delivered its opinion on case Utiledulci (C‑545/24) concerning a preliminary question regarding the recovery of illegal State aid in Portugal’s Madeira Free Zone. The case concerns whether Portuguese tax enforcement rules granting taxpayers the right to suspend recovery proceedings under certain conditions can apply where the Commission has ordered the recovery of unlawful State aid under Regulation (EU) 2015/1589.
The AG has concluded that EU law requires the immediate and effective recovery of incompatible State aid, even if this means setting aside national procedural rules that allow for the suspension of enforcement. He finds that such national rules must be disapplied where they delay recovery and allow beneficiaries to retain the competitive advantage of the aid. He stresses that recovery is an obligation of result, not merely of effort, and that guarantees, payment instalments or suspensions do not remove the aid from the beneficiary’s assets and therefore undermine the objective of restoring competition.
National authorities and courts are therefore required to ensure full and timely enforcement of Commission recovery decisions, even in the absence of specific national procedures for State aid recovery.
For more information, see the AG’s Opinion.