4.2.2012

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 32/16

(Case C-613/11)

2012/C 32/29

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: B. Stromsky and D. Grespan, Agents)

Defendant: Italian Republic

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:

—declare that, by failing to take, within the prescribed period, all the measures necessary to recover the State aid considered unlawful and incompatible with the internal market by Commission Decision [2008/92/EC] of 10 July 2007 concerning an Italian State aid scheme to the Sardinian shipping sector (notified on 11 July 2007 and published in OJ 2008 L 29, p. 24), the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 2 and 5 of that decision and under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

—order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The period for implementing Decision 2008/92 expired on 11 September 2007.

To date, the Italian Republic has not yet undertaken the full recovery of the aid declared unlawful by the decision in question or informed the Commission that recovery has taken place. Moreover, the legal and practical difficulties relied on by Italy as justification for the delay in implementing that decision are not such as to make recovery absolutely impossible in accordance with the case-law of the Court nor has Italy at any stage in fact pleaded that such recovery was absolutely impossible.

In addition, the Commission complains that, in breach of the obligation under the decision in question to communicate information and of the duty of cooperation in good faith, Italy was late in informing it of the progress of the national procedures for implementing the decision.