The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday rejected the appeal filed by Wizz Air regarding the rescue aid granted by the Romanian state in 2020 to the TAROM airline. The aid, in the amount of 36.6 million euros, is compatible with European Union law, the CJEU assessed.
In February 2020, Romania notified the European Commission of rescue aid, consisting of a loan of approximately 36,660,000 euros, which it intended to grant to the Romanian airline TAROM. By decision of February 24, 2020, the Commission qualified this subsidy as state aid compatible with the internal market.
However, the Hungarian airline Wizz Air appealed this decision to the Court of Justice of the European Union. By the Decision of May 4, 2022, the EU Court rejected this action.
According to the Tribunal, the aid in question is compatible with the internal market, as it aims to prevent a social difficulty or a market dysfunction that could be caused by an interruption of TAROM services for the connectivity of Romania’s regions.
The path to Privatisation is now wide open. Wizz can now go and fly to Cristian.