Reconciling Legal Certainty, Legitimate Expectations, Equal Treatment and the Prohibition of State Aids

I. Introduction On October 14, 2010, the Court of Justice dismissed an appeal brought by two Italian companies, Nuova Agricast and Cofra against a judgment of the General Court in Joined Cases T-362/05 and T- 363/05. The General Court had rejected Nuova Agricast and Cofra’s damage claim in respect of losses allegedly suffered as a result of the Commission’s decision of July 12, 2000 not to raise objections against an Italian State aid scheme for investment in disadvantaged regions of Italy, which was to succeed to a previous scheme. The Commission’s decision had in practice made it impossible for the complainants to apply for the new State aid scheme. This case raised the issues of the...