EU urges Greece to recover aid for Olympic Airways

Airline Industry Information, May 13, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled on Thursday (12 May) that Greece had failed to take necessary measures to recover EUR194m in unauthorized subsidies from Olympic Airways.

In 2002 the European Commission ordered the Greek government to recover from Olympic Airways EUR41m in restructuring aid and EUR153m new operating aid, which was deemed illegal. The court has now ruled that Greece had made insufficient efforts to do so.

The court also found that the transfer of all the assets of Olympic Airways, free of all debt, to the new carrier Olympic Airlines, possible under national law, made it impossible to recover the debts, reported AFX.

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