Sale of public properties : The Court of Justice of the European Union confirms that the European Commission has a large margin of discretion when assessing the value of a mine and of a piece of land so as to determine the amount of State aid resulting from its sale (Ellinikos Chrysos)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. In 2003 and 2004, after buying the assets of TVX, Hellas AE, the bankrupt company that operated the Cassandra gold mines, the Greek authorities resold the mines, the adjoining land and some gold reserves at a price below their market value. They also exempted the buyer from the payment of duties and taxes relating to this transaction. The subject-matter of the appeal In the first instance (Trib. EU, 9 December 2015, Greece v. Commission and Ellinikos Chrysos v. Commission - Case T-233/11 and Case T-262/11), the Court of First Instance confirmed the Commission's analysis that the low sale price and the tax exemption did indeed constitute State aid. It