EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 53/40

(Case T-901/16)

(2017/C 053/48)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: Elche Club de Fútbol, SAD (Elche, Spain) (represented by: M. Segura Catalán and M. Clayton, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

—Uphold the pleas for annulment raised in the application;

—annul the decision of the European Commission of 4 July 2016 on State aid SA.36387 (2013/C) (ex 2013/CP), by which Spain granted aid to Elche Club de Fútbol, SAD (and other football clubs), in particular as regards Elche CF;

—annul Article 1 of the decision in respect of measure 3;

—annul Article 2 of the decision in so far as it requires the recovery of the State aid in respect of measure 3 by Elche CF;

—order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on four pleas in law.

1.First plea in law, alleging an error of assessment and reasoning in the identification of the aid measure and of the beneficiary, in holding that the loan guarantees issued by the Instituto Valenciano de Finanzas (Valencian Institute for Finance) (IVF) in favour of Fundación Elche CF had as their beneficiary, within the meaning of Article 107 TFEU, Elche CF.

2.Second plea in law, alleging an infringement of Article 107 TFEU and failure to state reasons in respect of the classification as State aid of the loan guarantees granted by the IVF to the Fundación Elche CF. The Commission has not demonstrated imputability to the State, that it has conferred an advantage and that that advantage is selective and has not evaluated the distortion of competition nor given sufficient reasons regarding the effect on trade within the European Economic Area.

3.Third plea in law, alleging an infringement of Article 107 TFEU in the quantification of the aid and the amount of aid to be recovered.

4.Fourth plea in law, in the alternative, alleging an infringement of Article 107 TFEU in the assessment of the compatibility of the aid and the application of the Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines.