Massimo Merola is the managing partner responsible for the Brussels Office of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo and is the scientific director of the firm’s European Law and Antitrust group. Massimo oversees a broad regulatory practice specializing in EU law, European competition law, State aid law. He regularly appears before the European Commission and diverse national agencies and sanctioning bodies in various EU Member States to represent leading corporate clients in sectors like telecommunications, energy and air transportation. In addition to his extensive transactional expertise, Massimo maintains a litigation practice that routinely advocates for clients involved in multiparty, cross-border disputes brought before the EU Courts. In conjunction with his active legal practice, Massimo has lectured since 1993 as a professor at the College of Europe of Bruges, where he teaches an obligatory course in State aid and public undertakings law. He has also served as visiting professor in Community law at the University of Perugia, the University of Valencia, and the University of Barcelona. Additionally, he acted as the academic advisor for the post-graduate course, "Giuristi d’impresa" ("Business Lawyers") organized by the Pescara Bar Examination Committee in Italy. As a renowned practitioner and scholar, Massimo is a regular speaker at European conferences and seminars on Competition and State aid and the author of several publications. Graduated, magna cum laude, from the Faculty of Law of the University La Sapienza in Rome, Massimo has worked from the start of his professional career on European Law and Antitrust matters in a variety of international settings. Upon completing his Master Degree with honors (College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium) and qualifying for the Bar, he developed expertise in European law as a trainee at the State aid and commercial policy group of the Legal Service department of the European Commission. He subsequently entered private practice in 1987, joining a law-firm specializing in competition law in Brussels (Aquarone, Casella, Guarino, Libonati, Pappalardo, Uckmar). From 1989 to 1992, he worked as an associate at the US law firm Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. In 1992, he co-founded the law firm Pappalardo e Associati in Brussels, then merged into Bonelli Erede Pappalardo in 1999. He also served as Of Counsel to the Spanish law firm Gomez de Liaño y Asociados in 1992 and 1993.
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On 20 November 2020, the Supreme Court delivered Decision No. 26477 in a case concerning penalties imposed by the ITA on A.O. and A.A. for failure to comply with the implementing provisions of a Commission recovery order. Background & facts of the case By Decision 2005/315/EC of 20 (...)
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On 16 October 2020, the Supreme Court delivered Decision No. 22631 in a case concerning alleged aid granted by the Italian Government to a company operating in the maritime cabotage sector. Background & facts of the case In 1981, Fallimento Traghetti del Mediterraneo S.p.A. (“TDM”) (...)
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On 11 March 2020, the Supreme Court delivered Decision No. 7012 in a case concerning alleged aid granted by the Italian Government to an inter-university consortium. Background & facts of the case In Decision No. 6009 of 22 October 2018, the Council of State rejects the appeals brought (...)
26
On 26 November 2019, the Regional Administrative Court of Trentino-Alto Adige (“TAR Trentino-Alto Adige”) delivered Decision No. 285 in which it rejected the annulment action brought by SAD Trasporto Locale S.p.A. (“SAD”), a company operating within the public transport sector in the (...)
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On 15 July 2019, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 4962 in which it rejected the appeal brought by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia against a decision of the Regional Administrative Court of Sardinia (“TAR Sardinia”), which had upheld the annulment action brought by Re. Mu. S.r.l. (...)
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On 26 February 2019, the Supreme Court delivered Decision No. 5594 in a case concerning the reimbursement of aid unlawfully received by Eurosarda Gestioni Turistiche S.r.l. from the Sardinian regional government. Background & facts of the case In Decision 2008/854, the Commission (...)
33
On 18 February 2019, TAR Lazio delivered Decision No. 2198 in which it rejected an annulment action brought by Cinzia Hotel, a company operating in the hospitality sector in the Emilia Romagna region. Background & facts of the case In 2015, Cinzia Hotel applied for State incentives for (...)
38
On 2 July 2014, the Civil Court of Milan delivered Decision No. 3839 in which it rejected the damages action brought by Quanta Agenzia per il Lavoro S.p.A. (“Quanta”) and Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Quanta Sport Village (“ASD”) against the Municipality of Milan (Comune di Milano) and (...)
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Methods of recovery **Identification of beneficiaries TAR Veneto, Division I, Decision No. 754 of 7 July 2016 On 7 July 2016, TAR Veneto delivered Decision No. 754 in the annulment action brought by Lucy S.r.l. against the National Social Security Authority (“INPS”) and the Italian (...)
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On 7 July 2016 TAR Lazio delivered Decision No. 7030 in which it rejected the annulment action brought by certain tourism transport operators operating in the municipality of Rome. Background & facts of the case Trambus Open was a company created from the public-private partnership (...)
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On 11 February 2016, the Court of Rome annulled the recovery order issued to Mediaset concerning unlawful aid it received and recalculated the aid amount at zero. Background & facts of the case The decision under review originates from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by (...)
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On 21 July 2015, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 3616 in which it rejected the appeal brought by a partnership between several private limited liability companies (“SCAI”) against Decision 1288/2013 of the Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy (“TAR Lombardy”). The TAR Lombardy (...)
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On 21 July 2015, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 3596 concerning the appeal brought by the National Social Security Authority (“INPS”) against Decision 897/2014 issued by TAR Veneto, Division I, which annulled the obligation for the company Principessa S.r.l. to repay unlawful, (...)
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On 16 June 2015, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 3036 in the appeal brought by the National Social Security Authority (“INPS”) against a decision issued by TAR Veneto that annulled orders to repay unlawful, incompatible aid. Background & facts of the case Between 1995 and (...)
38
On 16 June 2015, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 3036 in which it partially upheld the appeal brought by the National Social Security Authority (“INPS”) against a decision issued by the Regional Administrative Court of Veneto (“TAR Veneto”). The TAR Veneto decision annulled certain (...)
39
On 18 February 2015, the Council of State issued a non-final decision in which it partially rejected the appeals against a TAR Lazio decision brought by several companies that produce and sell personal computers, recorders, storage media, mobile telephones, and cameras. The Council of State (...)
31
On 2 July 2014, TAR Lazio delivered Decision No. 7035 in which it rejected the annulment action brought by Parmalat S.p.A. (“Parmalat”) regarding the decree whereby it was denied access to certain subsidies. Background & facts of the case In 2008, Parmalat applied for subsidies under (...)
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On 16 June 2014, TAR Sardinia delivered Decision No. 00438 regarding the annulment action brought by Grand Hotel Abi D’Oru S.p.A. against the revocation order regarding the aid provided by the Sardinian regional government and against the related repayment order. Background & facts of (...)
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On 20 July 2011, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 4388 in which it upheld several TAR Lombardy decisions. Those decisions had partially rejected 14 annulment actions brought by several producers and distributors of electricity, gas, and oil products. Background & facts of the (...)
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On 17 May 2010, the Council of State delivered Decision No. 3046 in a case concerning the Italian Ministry of Industry’s revocation of aid granted to Ori Martin Acciaieria S.p.A. (“Ori Martin”) in violation of European Coal and Steel Community (“ECSC”) High Authority Decision 22/66 of 16 (...)
36
On 4 February 2010, the Supreme Court delivered Decision No. 2592 in which it upheld the appeal brought by the Italian tax authority (“ITA”, Agenzia delle Entrate), the entity responsible for collecting taxes and revenue in Italy, against a decision issued by the Regional Tax Court of Emilia (...)
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On 15 April 2008, the Italian Constitutional Court delivered Decision No. 102 regarding the action brought by the Italian Prime Minister’s Office (Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri) claiming that certain provisions of Sardinian Regional Law No. 4 of 11 May 2006 were unconstitutional. (...)
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Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy (Brescia Division), Interim Injunction No. 577 of 21 March 2006, in Sacbo Società per l’Aeroporto civile di Bergamo S.p.A. v Ministero Trasporti infrastrutture, ENAC and Alitalia S.p.A. TAR Lombardy did not exclude prima facie that Law 248/05, which (...)
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Le contrôle préalable de l’octroi des aides d’État par une autorité indépendante et supranationale, la Commission européenne, constitue la clé de voûte de la création du marché intérieur. Mais, les règles de procédure de ce contrôle ont privilégié les États membres alors que les tiers, parties (...)
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Cette rubrique Livres recense et commente les ouvrages et autres publications en droit de la concurrence, droit & économie de la concurrence et en droit de la régulation. Une telle recension ne peut par nature être exhaustive et se limite donc à présenter quelques publications récentes (...)
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An international survey among defense lawyers was lauched under the aegis of Concurrences in order to compare the protections that have been implemented in 15 different jurisdictions to address issues of fundamental rights arising in the frame of digital investigations. A first set of Best (...)
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La 5ème conférence annuelle du Global Competition Law Centre, organisée à Bruxelles les 11 et 12 juin 2009, était dédiée à l’étude lancée par la Commission pour la révision du Règlement 1/2003. Les contributions présentées ici sont la synthèse de six groupes de travail : I - Le régime de (...)
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Dans cette présentation de la table-ronde dédiée à l’application des règles en matière d’aides d’Etat au secteur bancaire et financier, le Professeur Dominique Berlin propose une systématisation du rôle du secteur bancaire (et financier) au regard des règles en matière d’aide d’État et mets en (...)
