Next episode in the Madeira Free Zone saga: Court of Justice confirms Commission decision
Today, the Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld the General Court’s ruling in the case C‑547/23 P of Região Autónoma da Madeira (RAM) v. European Commission, confirming that state aid granted under Regime III of the Madeira Free Zone (ZFM) contravenes state aid rules and must be recovered.
The aid, granted to companies in Madeira from 2007 to 2020, included tax reductions with conditions on job creation and economic activity. The European Commission found it incompatible aid, including aid to companies operating outside Madeira and insufficient monitoring of job creation. Portugal must now recover the remaining aid, including interest.
For further information, see the ECJ’s judgment.
For other recent GC judgments on actions for annulment of the Commission’s decision SA.21259 see our PRs here (on T-702/22), here (on T-724/22 and T-725/22) and here (on T-713/22 and T-720/22).