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De minimis State aid: the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania requested clarification from the Court of Justice of the European Union on whether, where the de minimis aid threshold is exceeded under national law, it is nevertheless possible to grant the part of the aid that does not exceed the установлен threshold.

The applicant submitted an application requesting de minimis State aid to partially compensate financial losses incurred as a result of a bankrupt company’s outstanding debt for agricultural products supplied by the applicant (EUR 128,717.08). Under Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013, the maximum amount of such aid that may be granted to a single undertaking over a three-year period is EUR 25,000. Having established that the maximum amount payable to the applicant under the application exceeded EUR 25,000, the National Paying Agency concluded that the requested aid exceeded the de minimis threshold and refused to grant State aid to the applicant in full.

The panel of judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania expressed doubts as to whether, in cases where the amount of aid calculated in accordance with national law exceeds the applicable threshold, the applicant may nevertheless be entitled to receive at least the portion of aid that does not exceed the de minimis limit. In this context, the Court noted that the application form approved by a Government resolution did not provide for the possibility to indicate a specific amount of aid requested or to expressly seek payment of an amount not exceeding the upper de minimis limit. The application required only general information relating to the creditor claim recognised in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, on the basis of which the right to apply for State aid arises. Moreover, the specific intensity of aid applicable in a given year is determined by an order of the Minister of Agriculture only after applications have been submitted. Consequently, at the time of submitting an application, the beneficiary cannot know the exact amount of aid that may be granted, nor whether that amount will exceed the de minimis threshold.

In order to dispel the doubts that had arisen, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union, requesting a preliminary ruling on several issues. In particular, the Court sought clarification as to whether, in the circumstances of the case, the amount of the applicant’s claims could be regarded as automatically exceeding the upper de minimis limit and, if so, whether the National Paying Agency could, without a separate request from the applicant, grant at least the portion of aid that does not exceed that limit.

The administrative proceedings were stayed pending the delivery of a preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Administrative case No eA-344-556/2025