EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 65/47

(Case T-826/14)

(2015/C 065/63)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: M. Sampol Pucurull, Abogado del Estado)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the General Court should:

—annul the contested Decision;

—in the alternative, annul Article 4 of the contested Decision, and

—order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The present action is brought against Commission Decision SA.35550 (2013/C) (ex 2013/NN) of 15 October 2014 concerning the scheme for the tax amortisation of financial goodwill for foreign shareholding acquisitions.

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

1.The first plea in law alleges infringement of Article 108(2) TFEU, in conjunction with Article 13 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty (OJ 1999 L 83, p. 1) and Article 296 TFEU, inasmuch as the contested Decision is a measure formally lacking a statement of reasons and inasmuch as it does not contain an assessment of the measure in the light of the judgments of the General Court of 7 November 2014 in Cases T-219/10 and T-399/11.

2.The second plea in law alleges infringement of Article 107(1) TFEU since the scheme in question is a measure of a general nature and not a selective measure.

3.The third plea in law is based on there being no new aid and the consequent infringement of Article 13 of Regulation No 659/1999.

4.The fourth plea in law alleges breach of the principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate expectations, in connection with Article 14 of Regulation No 659/1999 and the Commission’s own statements in two earlier Decisions.