The General Court of the European Union has dismissed today (6 November) an appeal from Wizz Air seeking to annul a €2 million aid package provided by Romania to its national airline, TAROM, to compensate for COVID-19-related losses. The Court confirmed the European Commission’s 2022 approval of the aid, finding it compatible with EU market rules under Article 107(2)(b) of the TFEU, which allows member states to support businesses for exceptional damage caused by crises, such as the pandemic.
The financial support, granted as a capital injection from Romania’s general budget, was specifically aimed at covering losses TAROM incurred on 14 international routes between July and December 2020. Wizz Air argued that this aid created unfair competition and should have triggered a formal investigation. However, the General Court concluded that the aid was proportional to TAROM’s losses and did not result in overcompensation, as the Commission had based its calculation on an appropriate counterfactual scenario and verified that TAROM took adequate steps to mitigate losses.
The Court also dismissed Wizz Air’s claim that the Commission failed to account for prior rescue aid received by TAROM. It held that the earlier aid and the COVID-19 support addressed different costs and were distinct measures, affirming that EU law does not require consideration of any potential indirect competitive advantages.
Source: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2024-11/cp240187en.pdf
