The European Commission must re-examine its decision ordering French energy group EDF to repay about €889 million in state aid, Europe's second-highest court ruled today.
The Commission had failed to examine whether the French state had acted like a private investor when it granted the aid, the European Union's General Court said in a statement.
"By refusing to examine the contested measures in their context and to apply the private investor test, the Commission erred in law and infringed the rules governing state aid," the statement said.
"The General Court therefore annuls the Commission's decision," it added.
The EU's executive Commission in 2003 ordered EDF to pay back the amount, related to a tax break granted to the company in 1997, to French authorities after deciding it broke European Union state aid rules. EDF appealed to the General Court, then known as the Court of First Instance.
Reuters