Dª. Arancha González Laya Ministra De Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea Y Cooperación Sede Palacio De Santa Cruz Plaza De La Provincia, 1 E- 28012 Madrid
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 17.2.2020 C(2020) 800 final In the published version of this decision, PUBLIC VERSION some information has been omitted, pursuant to articles 30 and 31 of Council This document is made available for Regulation (EU) 2015/1589 of 13 July 2015 information purposes only. laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, concerning non-disclosure of information covered by professional secrecy. The omissions are shown thus […] Subject: State Aid SA. 33909 (2013/C, ex 2013/NN, ex 2011/CP) – Spain Alleged aid to Ryanair and other airlines and possible aid to Girona and Reus Airports Excellency, The Commission wishes to inform Spain that, having examined the information supplied by your authorities on the measures referred to above, it has decided to extend the formal investigation procedure laid down in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). 1. THE PROCEDURE (1) By email of 18 November 2011, the Commission received a complaint alleging that unlawful State aid had been provided by Spain at Girona-Costa Brava airport (hereinafter “Girona airport”) and Reus airport in favour of Ryanair. This complaint was registered under the State aid case number SA.33909 (2011/CP). (2) By letter of 23 May 2012, the Commission received a second complaint from a competitor airline user of Barcelona-El Prat airport (hereinafter “Barcelona airport”), also alleging unlawful State aid provided by Spain at Girona and Reus airports in favour of Ryanair in the form of marketing and promotion agreements. Dª. Arancha González Laya Ministra de Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación Sede Palacio de Santa Cruz Plaza de la Provincia, 1 E- 28012 Madrid Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 (3) After having examined the information provided by Spain, on 16 October 2013, the Commission decided to open the investigation procedure laid down in Article 108 (2) TFEU in relation the measures referred above. The decision to open the formal investigation procedure (“the opening decision”) was transmitted to Spain on 16 October 2013, and was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 23 April 2014.1 (4) After the opening decision, several interested parties provided their observations on the opening decision and additional information was requested from interested parties, who transmitted their comments in several communications. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTS RELEVANT FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE FORMAL INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE 2.1 The opening decision (5) The opening decision was based on the information at the disposal of the Commission at the moment of its adoption. For the general description of the facts regarding the Girona and Reus airports and the entities involved, also relevant for this decision, reference is made to Sections 2.2 and 2.3 of the opening decision. (6) In the opening decision, the Commission took the preliminary view that the marketing support granted to Ryanair and other airlines may constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU to the airlines concerned and to the operator of the two airports. (7) With regard to an assessment of economic advantage, the Commission considered that there were two possible assessment frameworks: - First, the Commission assessed the configuration where the airport operator and the public entities, which concluded the marketing agreements, are regarded as a single entity, in particular in charge of the operation of the airports. Under this first assessment framework, the Market Economy Operator (MEO) test is applied to the combined entity, which should seek to obtain a financial benefit from its relationship with the airlines if it behaved like a private operator. The Commission considered that the marketing agreements relating to the operation of airlines at both Girona and Reus airports may have conferred an advantage on the airlines that they would not have obtained under normal market conditions. In particular, the Commission observed that the marketing agreements may generate an advantage for those airlines by lowering the costs that they would normally have to bear in order to fly to or from a given destination. - Second, the Commission assessed the configuration where the behaviour of the airport operator and that of the public entities cannot be assessed together. Under this second assessment framework, the Commission also considered that the marketing agreements relating to the operation of airlines at both 1 OJ C 120, 23.4.2014, p. 24. 2 Girona and Reus airports may have conferred an advantage on the airlines. In addition, the Commission considered that the marketing agreements may have conferred an advantage to the airport operator of Girona and Reus, as they allowed that operator to develop the activity of those airports, without bearing the costs that it would normally have to bear to achieve such development. (8) The Commission also expressed doubts as to whether the measures in question were compatible with the internal market. (9) By the opening decision, the Commission requested Spain to submit its comments and to provide all such information necessary to assess the measures in question. 2.2 Grounds for the extension of the investigation procedure (10) The Commission has decided to extend the opening decision in order (i) to include, under the ongoing investigation, additional marketing agreements relevant to the case that had not been considered previously in the opening decision, and (ii) to refine the preliminary view provided in the opening, based on the results of the investigation so far, taking also into account the experience acquired in similar cases since the opening decision. Additional marketing agreements (11) The answers of the Spanish authorities mentioned several marketing agreements concluded with Ryanair, Airport Marketing Services (hereinafter, “AMS”2) and airlines operating at the Girona and Reus airports, and public entities (e.g. GMS, AGI, APC3). As the Commission was not aware of any agreement concluded with AMS, it invited Spain to clarify whether such agreements existed and whether these were different agreements from those previously signed, already subject to the formal investigation procedure. (12) Spain confirmed the existence of these additional marketing agreements with AMS as well as with several airlines operating at the Girona and Reus airports (“the additional marketing agreements”), so far unknown to the Commission. (13) The Commission thus considers it necessary, for a full analysis of all the agreements signed between a public entity related to operations in Girona and Reus airports and certain airlines operating at those airports, to extend the scope of the investigation procedure to (i) the agreements listed in the tables below as well as (ii) any other agreements not mentioned in the table below that were concluded between the airlines and public signatories mentioned in the tables below from 2003 until the date of the present decision. Table 1 – Additional marketing agreements concluded with airlines operating at Girona airport 2 AMS is a 100% subsidiary of Ryanair. AMS will be referred to as an airline in the present decision. 3 GMS stands for Gestió de Marqueting i Serveis de les Comarques Gironines; AGI stands for Associació per a la Promoció i el Desenvolupament de les Comarques Gironines; APC stands for Aeroports Públics de Catalunya. 3 Airline Signatory Period of Key conditions contained Payment to be Airline Obligations validity in contract made AMS AGI 2006 - 2010 Marketing services: web […] (*) EUR Aircrafts at base. banner, external advertising, use of Catalan, etc. Operation of routes/traffic. AMS GMS 01.04.2007 - Marketing services: banner […] EUR Aircrafts at base. 31.12.2007 on Ryanair website, external advertising on aircrafts, use Operation of Automatically of Catalan, etc. routes/traffic. renewed for 1 year AMS GMS 01.01.2009 - The provision of Internet […] EUR Cancellation linked 31.12.2011 marketing and advertising to traffic change. services and activities by AMS to GMS AMS GMS 2012 - 2017 Marketing services […] EUR Cancellation linked to traffic change. Initial period of 3 years starting on 25.03.2012 Automatically extended for 2 years until 24.03.2017 Side letter n° 1 Reduce the level of […] EUR Main contract. on 19.11.2013 marketing services April 2013 - March 2014 Side letter n° 2 […] EUR Main contract. on 09.02.2015 April 2015 - March 2017 Ryanair4 GMS 25.03.2012- (a) Advertising on overhead […] EUR Cancellation linked 24.03.2015 lockers on 20 planes for 8 to traffic change. months each year With automatic two year (b) The placement of extension: external advertising on 8 planes all year round. 25.03.2015- 24.03.2017 (c) Placement of articles in in-flight magazine (d) Use of the Catalan language for Ryanair website and cabin announcements. Side letter n° 1 Placement of 8 decals on the […] EUR Main contract. on 12.03.2014 back of the fuselage of the aircrafts all year, magazines, April 2014 - Catalan, etc March 2015 Side letter n° 2 Placement of 8 decals on the […] EUR Main contract. on 09.02.2015 back of the fuselage of the aircrafts all year April 2015 - * Confidential information 4 This marketing agreement was already listed in the opening decision, but not some of its side letters. For the sake of clarity, it is also included in the Table. 4 Airline Signatory Period of Key conditions contained Payment to be Airline Obligations validity in contract made March 2016 Side letter n° 3 Reconfirmation of the […] EUR Main contract. on 08.02.2016 agreement after change of GMS to APC Side letter n° 4 Extension of the agreement […] EUR Main contract. on 14.03.2016 for 1 year until 25.03.2017 April 2016 - March 2017 Jet2 APC 3 years as of Not readable document […] EUR Cancellation linked 01.01.2016 to minimum traffic.