Judgment_paragraph 73 · French Republic v European Commission (T-1/12)

73It is clear from case-law that where some of the grounds in a decision on their own provide a sufficient legal basis for the decision, any errors in the other grounds of the decision have no effect on its operative part. It is, moreover, settled case-law that a plea which, even if it were well founded, is incapable of bringing about the annulment which the applicant seeks must be rejected as ineffective (see order of 26 February 2013 in Castiglioni v Commission, T‑591/10, EU:T:2013:94, paragraphs 44 and 45 and the case-law cited). In the present case, it is clear from paragraphs 55 and 56 above that the Commission was right to find that the loans at issue could not be dissociated from the recapitalisation and the rescue aid and that, taken as a whole, those measures constituted State aid. Any errors on the part of the Commission in assessing the loans at issue in isolation cannot therefore affect the lawfulness of the contested decision. The French Republic’s second plea must therefore be rejected as being ineffective, without it being necessary to rule on the admissibility of the document produced by the Commission at the hearing (see paragraph 18 above).