Poland has got its last seven days in court – with a bouquet of rulings in Warsaw and at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg that could have far-reaching implications for the European Union’s (EU’s) legal order. We will unpack what these rulings are about and how they fit into Poland’s clash with the EU. Read more... (Petra Ágnes Kanyuk)

The Department of Financial Law and Public Management of the Faculty of Law of the University of Debrecen has had a scientific relationship with the Institute of Financial Law of the Polish Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski for several years. Thanks to the established network of contacts, several joint tax law research projects and professional events took place over the years. The Faculty of Law of the University of Debrecen is also involved in the CEEPUS mobility cooperation titled “KULTAX Financial and Tax Law in Central Europe”, initiated by the Polish partner university. The most recent conference, held on 21 May 2021, discussed a topical issue, “Financial Regulation in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Read more... (Dóra Lovas)

In view of the economic difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was unthinkable for the European Commission not to ease restrictions on State aid. As such, the European Commission approved unprecedented forms of State aid to save the epidemic-struck European economy. In this context, the governments of the member states have poured billions of euros into the airline industry, which has been hit particularly hard by virus-related restrictions and lockdowns. According to Ryanair, State aid given to national airlines constitutes unfair competition; as such, the airline has filed 16 lawsuits against the Commission for allowing the provision of State aid to individual airlines. On 19 May, the General Court has delivered three judgments, deciding to uphold Ryanair’s actions for the annulment of Commission State aid decisions in respect of TAP and KLM, but dismissed the action concerning Spain. Read more... (Krisztina Széles)

The right to have access to public services (in EU terminology ’services of general interests’, SGIs and ‘services of general economic interests’, SGEIs) is of crucial importance for citizen. It has also been confirmed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This right involves the requirement for establishing an effective consumer protection regime both at the national and the EU level. Due to the evolution of the legal framework, the EU is an important supranational actor in the regulation of public services today. The paper analyses the evolution of consumer protection in this field from the very beginning stage of the European integration until today, with a special focus on secondary legislation of the European Union aiming at liberalization in the energy sector. Read more... (Ildikó Bartha)

The European General Court has ruled that Amazon’s cost-sharing arrangement in Luxembourg did not breach EU competition law. The General Court says that there was no selective advantage in favour of a Luxembourg subsidiary of the Amazon group; as such, it annuls the Commission’s decision declaring the aid incompatible with the internal market. Accordingly, Amazon will not be expected to pay 250 million euros in back taxes. As regards Engie in Luxembourg, the General Court has confirmed the Commission's decision that a set of tax rulings issued by Luxembourg artificially reduced Engie's tax bill by around 120 million euros. Read more... (Krisztina Széles)

According to Advocate General Pikamäe’s Opinion in Case C-564/19 IS, delivered on 15 April 2021, the Hungarian legislation enabling the public prosecutor to bring an action before the Supreme Court (Kúria) to declare a lower criminal court’s order for reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union unlawful, and the decision of the Supreme Court establishing that unlawfulness, are incompatible with the principle of the primacy of EU law, as they undermine the power of the lower court to refer questions to Court of Justice. As such, in the opinion of the Advocate General, the decision of the Kúria and the underlying national legislation must be set aside. Read more... (Daniel Szilágyi)