Court Overturns Ruling Germany Must Claw Back Deutsche Post Cash

By Laurence Norman and Viktoria Dendrinou

BRUSSELS--The European Union's second-highest court on Thursday overturned a 2012 decision by the European Commission ordering Germany to recover up to EUR1 billion ($1.1 billion) from Deutsche Post AG in subsidies it paid for postal workers' pensions.

The court overturned a 2012 decision by the European Commission--the European Union's executive arm--that the public financing of pensions at Deutsche Post was in breach of EU law since it constituted state aid.

The commission at the time said the amounts recoverable were between EUR500 million and EUR1 billion.

The Luxembourg-based EU General Court said that the commission failed to show that the subsidies presented a real economic advantage for Deutsche Post over its competitors.

"By today's judgment, the Court allows Germany's action and thus annuls the Commission's decision insofar as it relates to the pension-related subsidies," the court said in a press release.

Deutsche Post is Germany's main mail and parcel company.

The decision of the General Court can be appealed. There was no immediate comment from the Commission on whether they would challenge the ruling.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 14, 2016 04:37 ET (08:37 GMT)

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