Judgment of the Court 9 August 1994

In Case C-44/93, REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Cour d'Appel de Bruxelles for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT, composed of: O. Due, President, G. E Mancini, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, M. Diez de Velasco and D. A. O. Edward (Presidents of Chambers), C. N. Kakouris, R. Joliet, F. A. Schockweiler, G. C. Rodríguez Iglesias, F. Grévisse (Rapporteur), M. Zuleeg, P. J. G. Kapteyn and J. L. Murray, Judges, Advocate General: C. O. Lenz, Registrar: R. Grass,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of: Namur-Les Assurances du Crédit, the appellant in the main proceedings, by Pierre van Ommeslaghe, an advocate with a right of hearing before the Belgian Cour de Cassation, the Belgian State and the Office National du Ducroire, the respondent in the main proceedings, by, respectively, Jan Devadder, Director of Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, and Georges van Hecke, an advocate with a right of hearing before the Cour de Cassation, and Bernard van de Walle de Ghelcke, of the Brussels Bar, the French Government, by Philippe Pouzoulet, Deputy Director for Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, and by Catherine de Salins, Adviser on Foreign Affairs, acting as Deputy Agent, the Netherlands Government, by A. Bos, Legal Adviser, acting as Agent, the Commission of the European Communities, by Antonino Abate, Principal Legal Adviser, and Ben Smulders, of its Legal Service, both acting as Agents,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Namur-Les Assurances du Crédit, the Belgian State and the Office National du Ducroire, the French Government, represented by Jean-Marc Belorgey, Head of Mission at the Foreign Affairs Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, and the Commission at the hearing on 4 May 1994,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 22 June 1994,

gives the following

Judgment

The distinction between existing aid and new aid and the allocation of powers and responsibilities between the Commission, on the one hand, and the Member States and their courts, on the other

The first and third questions

The second question

Costs

1 Language of the case: French.