Press Release: State aid: Commission refers Belgium to Court for failure to implement Financial Transparency Directive

The European Commission decided on 28 January 2010 to refer Belgium to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for its failure to implement Commission Directive 2005/81/EC on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings. Member States were required to implement the Directive into national law by 19 December 2006. Despite two previous warnings (see IP/07/1667 and IP/09/1027 ), Belgium has not yet informed the Commission about the full implementation of the Directive. The referral to the ECJ is the third and last step in infringement procedures under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).