EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 53/30

(Case T-845/16)

(2017/C 053/37)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: QG (Madrid, Spain) (represented by: L. Ruiz Ezquerra, R. Oncina Borrego, I. Sobrepera Millet y A. Hernández Pardo, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the General Court should:

—declare that the Commission Decision of 4 July 2016 on State aid SA. 29769 (2013/C) (ex 2013/NN), granted by Spain to certain football clubs, infringes Articles 107(1) and 108(3) of the TFEU, since the possibility of consolidating accounts brought about by the authorisation of four clubs to participate in different sports under Law 10/1990, as well as the application of the reduced tax rate under the same corporate tax, also constitute State aid incompatible with the internal market and, therefore, should be declared to be such by the European Commission.

—consequently, provide for the withdrawal/annulment of the measure and require the Kingdom of Spain to recover from the beneficiaries the aid that is incompatible with the internal market, and order it to pay costs in that regard.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant alleges an infringement of Articles 107(1) and 108(3) of the TFEU.

The applicant, a basketball club, expresses its agreement with the contested measure, inasmuch as it considers the measure introduced by Law 10/1990, consisting in more favourable treatment in terms of corporation tax by applying a reduced rate of taxation to certain football clubs, to be State aid incompatible with the internal market.

Nonetheless the applicant considers that the Commission should have reached the same conclusion in respect of the tax privilege provided for in Law 10/1990 and which consists in permitting those same clubs to participate in different sports.

Only the clubs that were able to participate in professional competitions in different sports were permitted to consolidate the accounts in respect of football and basketball, the main sports in Europe, with direct effects on the calculation of the corporate tax base. By consolidating the accounts, the significant receipts from football are reduced by the losses from basketball and, thus, the corporate tax base is significantly reduced, together with the tax to be paid.