The judgment of the General Court of 28 February 2024 concerns two actions brought by ferry operators Scandlines and Stena Lines and a separate action brought by Denmark seeking annulment of the Commission's approval of various state support measures for a total of EUR 9.3 billion in favour of the state-owned company Femern A/S for the financing, construction and operation of a tunnel between Denmark and Germany.
The Fehmarn Belt fixed rail-road link includes an undersea tunnel between Rødby on the island of Lolland in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany. The tunnel will be approximately 19 kilometres long and consist of an electrified, double-track railway and a four-lane motorway.
Following the annulment of the original 2015 decision, the Commission initiated a formal investigation procedure on the matter and on 20 March 2020 adopted the contested decisions greenlighting the measures in the form of capital injections and a combination of state loans and state guarantees.
According to the General Court, the Commission was entitled to find that the Fixed Link project is of common European interest, inter alia because the project makes a significant and concrete contribution to the achievement of the European Union’s transport policy objectives and broader EU objectives, and that it will improve the connection between the Nordic countries and Central Europe.
For more information, see the judgments here (T‑7/19, T-364/20, and T-390-20).