The Commission yesterday decided to refer to the Court of Justice the failure by the Greek Government to comply with its "State aid" decision of 11 December 2002 concerning Olympic Airways .

On 11 December 2002, the Commission asked Greece to recover € 41 million of aid authorised in 1998, and for the repayment of new aid granted subsequently, amounting to an estimated € 153 million. Greece had two months from the notification of the Commission`s decision to comply with it. By the deadline of 13 February 2003 the aid in question had not been recovered.

The Commission has therefore decided to bring the matter before the Court of Justice under the powers conferred upon it by Article 88§2 of the EC Treaty, which states: "If the State concerned does not comply with this decision within the prescribed time, the Commission or any other interested State may, in derogation from the provisions of Articles 226 and 227, refer the matter to the Court of Justice".