Court of Justice judgment in a non-contractual liability claim against the Commission
The Court of Justice has delivered its judgment in Case C-145/24 P, BdM Banca SpA v. Commission, partially annulling the judgment of the General Court in Case T-415/21.
The origin of the dispute is Decision SA.39451, adopted in 2015, in which the Commission found that an intervention from the Fondo interbancario di tutela dei depositi (FITD) in favour of the Italian bank Tercas constituted incompatible State aid. The EU Courts annulled the decision because the Commission had not correctly assessed whether the measures were imputable to the State. BdM Banca (former Banca Popolare di Bari), who had acquired the bank Tercas in 2014, initiated proceedings against the Commission for non-contractual liability.
In today’s judgment, the Court of Justice stated that, since the notion of State aid laid down in Article 107.1 TFEU is based on objective criteria, the Commission has very little discretion when determining whether a measure constitutes State aid. Endorsing the General Court’s finding, the Court of Justice considered that the Commission made two conceptual errors relating to the interpretation and application of the concept of State aid. Contrary to the General Court, it found that by making these conceptual errors the Commission infringed Article 107.1 TFEU in a sufficiently serious manner.
The Court of Justice recalled the conditions required by the case law for the European Union to incur non-contractual liability and found that no causal link could be established to the damage claimed. It therefore dismissed the claim for compensation of alleged damages.
For more information, see the Court’s judgment.