Minister Steven van Weyenberg of Finance informed the House of Representatives of this. The basis on which an appeal will be lodged is still being investigated.
At the beginning of February, the Court ruled for the second time that the approval that the European Commission gave to KLM support in 2020 does not comply with European rules. The decision had to be reformulated in 2021, after criticism from the Court.
But according to the judges, Brussels has still not made it sufficiently clear how this Dutch support could be distributed within the aviation group. KLM, with a 94 percent stake (5.9 percent is owned by the Dutch state), is an almost fully owned subsidiary of Air France-KLM.
Indirectly
According to the European Court, it has not been sufficiently established that Dutch euros did not end up with the parent company and Air France, and Air France-KLM and Air France have ‘at least indirectly benefited from Dutch state aid’, just as the Court previously ruled that KLM was an indirect beneficiary of French government aid.
For this reason, the European judges rejected the French state credits to Air France-KLM and Air France in December, because they could potentially leak through to the Netherlands due to the close mutual ties. France filed an appeal against this earlier this month.
Against the rules
The ruling means that Dutch aid formally violates European rules for state aid. Both the Dutch state and KLM could suffer consequences from this. How big they are remains to be seen.
The European Commission must now justify its approval of government aid again. In addition, it is now appealing against the ruling and, together with the Netherlands, requesting a review.
KLM has long since repaid the 942 million euros borrowed from the Dutch state (and with a state guarantee from the banks) in 2020. Including 80 million euros in interest. The same applies to Air France-KLM in France.
