Memo: Mergers: Commission welcomes Court judgment on Spain’s failure to withdraw illegal conditions imposed on E.ON / Endesa merger

The European Commission welcomed the judgment by the European Court of Justice (case C-196/07) on an infringement case against Spain. The Court found that Spain failed to comply with the Commission's decisions requiring the withdrawal of certain conditions imposed on E.ON’s bid for Endesa. Some of the conditions were imposed by the Spanish Energy Regulator (CNE) in July 2006, others by a Ministerial decision of 3 November 2006. The conditions in question were declared illegal under Article 21 of the EU Merger Regulation by Commission decisions adopted on 26 September 2006 and 20 December 2006 respectively. When Spain failed to withdraw the conditions, the Commission referred the case to the Court in March 2007 (see IP/07/427). The Court ruling confirmed that Member States cannot deprive businesses and consumers of the benefits of the Single Market. The judgement confirmed that the Commission can and should continue to monitor national measures in order to ensure that Member States do not impose unjustified restrictions on cross-border mergers that are the exclusive competence of the Commission.