EU to pay damages in first excessive length case

Johan Ysewyn is quoted in a Global Competition Review article regarding the EU General Court’s ruling ordering the EU to pay damages to Gascogne after finding that the court breached the company’s right to adjudication within a reasonable period. According to Ysewyn, despite the “precedent-setting” verdict, the General Court “gave itself an escape route by emphasising that a long decisional period could still be justified by the ‘specific circumstances’ of the case – so if the case is highly complex and involves multiple issues, like the state aid tax cases that are currently before the court, they may feel they need to allow themselves more time.”