Judgment_paragraph 28 · Paul Vervloet and Others v Ministerraad (C-76/15)

28In recital 90 of that decision, the Commission concludes that the announcement and the implementation of the cooperative guarantee scheme have to be dealt with as a single measure, for the reasons set out in recitals 85 to 89 of that decision, as follows:(85) The Commission observes that the measure was decided and announced by the government on 10 October 2008. It is clear that the Belgian Government had made the decision to offer ARCO the benefit of a cooperative guarantee scheme at the same time as the measure in favour of Dexia was designed in 2008. Another press release of 21 January 2009 further detailed the measure and after that the legal transposition of the government’s commitment began.(86) The Commission takes note of the binding and unambiguous language in the press releases of 10 October 2008 and 21 January 2009, which used terms such as ‘décidé’ and ‘l’engagement’, thus creating a legitimate expectation as to their fulfilment.(87) The press releases were also sent out via the official channels: the press release of 10 October 2008 was sent out by the services of the Minister of Finance, while the press release of 10 January 2009 was sent on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. The repeated nature of the press communication strengthened the underlying message.(88) The Commission notes that it was clear already at the time of the press release of 10 October 2008 that the cooperative guarantee scheme would be designed as an extension of the deposit guarantee scheme. The press release of 21 January 2009 contains further technical details. As soon as the press release of 21 January 2009 was published, ARCO put it on its website. The latter step was clearly taken with a view to reassuring its individual shareholders. Moreover the Commission notes the consistency of the measure over time given that the measure has not materially changed between the initial announcement on 10 October 2008 and the final Royal Decree.(89) In its judgment [of 19 March 2013, Bouygues and Bouygues Télécom v Commission and Others and Commission v France and Others, (C‑399/10 P and C‑401/10 P, EU:C:2013:175)], the Court of Justice held that the announcement of a measure and the effective implementation can be analysed as one single intervention, if to do so is justified by the chronology and purpose of the announcement and the implementation and by the circumstances of the undertaking at the time of such intervention. In a similar manner, in the case of this measure the Belgian State decided and announced a measure on 10 October 2008, which was later implemented for the same purpose in respect of the originally intended beneficiary. Moreover, in its own decisions, the Commission has considered an announcement and an implementation to be one measure and considered an advantage to have been created as of the date of the announcement. Indeed, the current Belgian Minister of Finance qualified the measure in question as a commitment made in 2008.’

Paul Vervloet and Others v Ministerraad (C-76/15)

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