Deutsche POST DHL will appeal to the European Court of Justice against a European Commission ruling against alleged illegal German state aid to the express delivery company’s parent Deutsche Post AG, reports the UK’s Transport Intelligence.

“The EU Commission’s ruling on a repayment is incomprehensible and has no basis in fact,” said Deutsche Post DHL chief executive Frank Appel.

“It stands in clear contradiction to an earlier EU decision and the outcomes of similar proceedings. If you examine the state aid rulings on other European postal service providers, it becomes quite clear that here the commission has applied double standards,” said Mr Appel.

“We are absolutely confident that the decision will have no validity in court and are proceeding on the assumption that the amount plus interest will be repaid,” he said.

The proceedings focus on state grants, such as financial equalisation and the funding of civil servant pensions at Deutsche Post.

When the commission examined the funding of civil servant pensions, it concluded that the pension expenses of Deutsche Post were, in part, incorrectly assessed in the case of price approvals by the Federal Network Agency, thus in some cases involved incompatible state aid, said the report.

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