718 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM Finally, regarding freedom to provide services and freedom of establishment, the Court held that Ryanair had not demonstrated how the exclusive nature of the measure was liable to affect Ryanair’s provision of services from or to Finland or to exercise its freedom of establishment. 4.4.3. Infringement of Article 108(2) TFEU The third plea concerned the fact that the Commission had not initiated a formal investigation procedure, even though, according to Ryanair, there were considerable doubts as to the lawfulness of the aid. The fact that the General Court was examining the merits of those pleas precluded this plea’s assessment. 4.4.4. Breach of the obligation to state reasons On this particular point, Ryanair claimed that the Commission’s reasoning, underlying the contested decision, would be non-existent, tautologous or contradictory. However, the court held that the decision of the European competition authority is sufficiently reasoned. 4.5. Portuguese State aid to TAP This case is different from the previous ones, as the Court’s assessment did not focus on verifying the material requirements underlying the State aid assessed by the Commission, but on a formal requirement. This case is different from the previous ones, as the Court’s assessment did not focus on verifying the material requirements underlying the State aid assessed by the Commission, but on a formal requirement. Without going into Ryanair’s usual arguments, the Court considered from the outset that the decision was not sufficiently reasoned and that the Commission should have explained its reasoning adequately. On 9 June 2020, Portugal notified the European competition authority of a proposed State loan, more precisely, a combination of such a loan and a State guarantee, for a maximum amount of 1.2 billion euros, intended for Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, SGPS, SA in order to sustain its activity for one semester, between July and December 2020. As in previous situations, the aid to TAP was assessed in the preliminary examination phase, provided for in article 108(3) TFEU, which allows the Commission to form a judgment on the compatibility of the aid in question, albeit with the particularity that interested competitors are not given the opportunity to participate. The Commission adopted the respective decision
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