Content area
Full Text
The 6 June 2014 was a landmark day for State aid control in Cyprus, as the District Court of Nicosia issued an interim judgment and awarded a freezing injunction for the first time in a State aid case. In Civil Action no. 5141/13, Cypra Limited vs. Attorney General of Cyprus and the Council of Central Slaughterhouse of Kofinou (hereinafter 'CSK') the Court prohibited the Council of CSK from selling, mortgaging, transferring, alienating and/or charging in anymanner the immovable property of CSK until the hearing of the case or further order of the Court.
The judgment was the latest episode in a State aid saga dating back to 2006.Aswe have described in a previous EStAL article1, CSK was established in 1981 and operated as a State-owned public utility enterprise until 2003, when the regulatory regime was liberalised. Ever since the liberalisation of the market, the financial situation of CSK started to deteriorate. The Cyprus Government applied for Rescue aid and in 2010 the Commission approved rescue aid to CSK in the form of a government guarantee for the conclusion of a loan amounting to euro1.6 million.2
On 3 January 2010 Cyprus notified to the Commission a restructuring plan. The total restructuring cost amounted to euro26.85 million out of which euro15 million would be granted as State aid. As the restructuring plan was under assessment by the Commission, a complaint by Cypra Ltd (hereinafter 'Cypra'), a slaughterhouse undertaking that holds more than 50%of the Cyprus slaughterhouse market, was submitted on 20 January 2011. Cypra alleged...