Greece's Government is to be penalised further by the European Court of Justice over the long-running Olympic Airways state-aid saga, and faces a daily fine on top of a lump sum payment.
The court has imposed a €2 million ($2.8 million) basic penalty and, in addition, a daily fine of €16,000 per day after the Greek Government failed to demonstrate compliance with a ruling in 2005 to recover state aid illegally awarded to Olympic.
In its ruling the court says the long-running dispute centres on a €41 million capital contribution for restructuring, €61 million of passenger taxes, and €2.5 million in airport rents.
But the Greek Government has claimed that certain Olympic debts have been repaid to the state, after being offset against a compensation award to the company.
The court says the Government has proven repayment of the €41 million in capital, plus €38 million of the taxes, and nearly €655,000 of the rental aid.
"On the other hand [the court] considers that Greece has not provided evidence that set-off has been carried out in relation to the rest of the [tax and rental] aid," it adds.
While the court says the outstanding amounts constitute only a small part of the original sum, it says the Greek Government's "failure" to meet demands has lasted for more than four years.
As a result it will impose the combined two-part penalty in a month's time, unless the Government can demonstrate that it has fulfilled its obligations.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news