Pre-litigation procedure
18Following delivery of the judgment establishing the failure to fulfil obligations, on 15November 2017 the Commission sent a letter to the Greek authorities asking them to recover the unlawful aid incompatible with the internal market, to which the latter authorities failed to reply.
19On 13November 2018, by letter sent to the Greek Minister for Finance, the Commission requested information on the status of the procedure for recovery of the aid in question and stated that it could bring an action for failure to fulfil obligations under Article260 TFEU. That letter also remained unanswered.
20On 25January 2019, finding that Decision 2014/539 had yet to be implemented, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the Hellenic Republic, in accordance with Article260(2) TFEU, inviting it to submit its observations within two months.
21On 29March 2019, that Member State replied to the letter of formal notice, explaining, in particular, the difficulties that it faced and its willingness to cooperate.
22It was in those circumstances that the Commission decided to bring the present action.
Developments during the course of the present proceedings
23On 14February 2020, the Hellenic Republic passed Law No4664/2020. Article21 of that law provides that Larco be placed under a special administration scheme, which is to lead, by means of a simplified and expeditious procedure, to the liquidation of that company (‘special administration’).
24Following an application by that Member State acting in its capacity as creditor of Larco, the Monomeles Efeteio Athinon (Court of Appeal (single judge), Athens, Greece), by Decision No1407/2020 of 28February 2020, put that company under special administration, which did not lead to that company ceasing operations. By the same decision, that court appointed a special administrator responsible for making an inventory of all of the assets and liabilities of that company and required to carry out a public tendering procedure for the purposes of the divestiture of that company’s assets.
25On 13March 2020, the Greek authorities, first, requested that Larco pay, within 30 calendar days, the amount corresponding to the aid declared unlawful and incompatible with the internal market, plus the applicable interest, and, second, informed the Commission of the special administration applicable to Larco.
26On 26March 2020, the Court of Justice, by its judgment in Larko v Commission (C‑244/18P, EU:C:2020:238), upheld the appeal brought by Larco against the judgment of the General Court of 1February 2018, Larko v Commission (T‑423/14, EU:T:2018:57), by which the General Court had dismissed the action brought by that company seeking annulment of Decision 2014/539. The Court of Justice set aside the judgment of the General Court in so far as the latter had rejected the first part of the first plea in law, which relates to the guarantee granted in 2008 by the Greek State to Larco in relation to a loan of EUR30million granted to that company by ATE Bank (‘measure No2’).
27Following the judgment of the Court of Justice, Larco raised objections to the amount of the aid relating to measure No2, which is to be recovered.
28On 7April 2020, Larco’s special administrator brought proceedings against the Hellenic Republic seeking arbitration of the dispute concerning the system of ownership of the Larymna smelting plant.
29By letter of 27April 2020, the Greek authorities informed the Commission of Larco’s objections concerning measure No2, to which the Commission replied by letter of 6May 2020.
30On 14May 2020, those authorities sent the Greek tax authorities a letter by way of which they requested full recovery of the aid in question from Larco.
31Following a request for information from the Court of Justice on the basis of Article62(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, the Hellenic Republic produced documents concerning the recovery of the aid at issue.
32It is apparent from the reply to that request for information, first, that, on 22March 2021, Larco was still under special administration, in the light of the time required for the arbitration award relating to the system of ownership of the Larymna smelting plant to be delivered and of the fact that that special administration was to come to an end following a period of 12months which ran from the date on which it was implemented or a period of nine months which ran from the date of delivery of that award.
33Second, by that award, delivered on 24September 2020 and rectified on 8October 2020, the arbitration tribunal recognised the Greek State’s right of ownership over the Larymna smelting plant and mining complex. Larco continued to lease those assets from the Greek State.
34Third, further to that award, the two calls for tenders referred to in paragraph10 of the present judgment, by way of which the Hellenic Republic stated its intention to sell certain assets of Larco, were updated and the special administrator proceeded with the final preparations of the inventory of all of Larco’s assets and liabilities.
35Fourth, the procedures relating to those calls for tenders were conducted in parallel and were to be completed at the latest by 8July 2021.