In July , the Commission received complaints alleging that France granted State aid to the operator of La Rochelle airport and certain airlines. Almost four years later, in February , the Commission decided to open the formal investigation procedure. La Rochelle airport was classified as a small regional airport [category D]. The airport was owned by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry which was also the operator. At the time the complaints were lodged with Commission, the airport had scheduled flights only to about ten destinations.
The main airlines that operated at the airport were Ryanair, easyJet, and Flybe. Because this decision is both very long [about pages] and very rich [it examines several different measures], this article is divided into two parts. Part I reviews the assessment of the measures in favour of the airport operator.
Part II reviews the assessment of the measures in favour of airlines. Ryanair argued that the CCI was not a public authority. The Commission disagreed. Chambers of commerce and industry are, in this respect, like local and regional authorities, which are managed by local elected officials independent of the State in the strict sense , and not by civil servants appointed by other public authorities.
Moreover, national parliaments are also composed of elected representatives. However, parliaments form one of the essential public authorities in a democratic State. The situation of chambers of commerce and industry differs from that of public undertakings, in respect of which the Court clarified the criteria for imputability to the State in the Stardust Marine judgment.
In the case of a measure taken by a public undertaking that has the primary vocation of carrying out an economic activity, it must be determined whether the public authorities controlling that undertaking, for example due to the capital share that they hold in said undertaking, are involved in the adoption of the measure in question. As a result, in order to determine whether a decision of a chamber of commerce and industry is imputable to the State as broadly defined by the case-law on State aid , it is not necessary.
