Judgment_paragraph 98 · Freistaat Thüringen (Germany) v Commission of the European Communities (T-318/00)

98First, it denies that it committed an error in its findings of fact relating to that guarantee. It states, first, that despite the injunction issued to the German authorities, they failed to clarify the facts surrounding the measure. In the letter of 30 March 1999, the German authorities merely found it ‘logical’ to increase the guarantee from 80 % to 100 %, but did not provide any explanation on the point. It considers that, accordingly, it was entitled, in accordance with the judgment in Case C-47/91 Italy v Commission (‘Italgrani’) [1992] ECR I-4145), to adopt its decision in the light of the information available. The Commission adds that it was evident from that information that, because of the conversion, the actual provision of the guarantee did not meet the initial conditions provided for by the legislation pertaining to the granting of guarantees by the Land of Bavaria. Since that aid scheme, which had received prior approval from the Commission, provided that the guarantee could cover only a maximum of 80 % of the loans, the guarantee from the Land of Bavaria should have been reduced because of the banks' waiver of repayment of loans totalling DEM 12 million. It adds that neither the German authorities nor the Land of Thuringia could explain the increase of the guaranteed amount from DEM 52.72 to 54.72 million. Lastly, the Commission states that, even if the Land of Thuringia is right when it states that the guaranteed risk had materialised when the Land of Bavaria undertook to provide a 100 % guarantee for the remaining amount, the fact remains that the Land of Bavaria should have covered only 80 % of the new amount due.

Freistaat Thüringen (Germany) v Commission of the European Communities (T-318/00)

History · 1 version

Key facts

Connections