EU court to hear aluminium state aid case again

LUXEMBOURG, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Europe's second-highest court will have to review its decision to overturn the European Commission's ruling that said state aid handed out to aluminium producers in Ireland, Italy and France nearly a decade ago was illegal. In December 2005, the Commission ordered the authorities in the three countries to claw back tax breaks given to Ireland's Aughinish, Eurallumina in Italy and Alcan in France between February 2002 and the end of 2003 because they breached EU state aid rules. The European General Court, which before Tuesday was called the Court of First Instance, overturned the Commission's decision in 2007 after the countries and companies appealed. This prompted the EU executive to turn to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ, Europe's top court, on Wednesday referred the case back to the General Court. "Since the Court of First Instance did not give judgment on the substance of any of the pleas put forward by the parties, the Court considers that the state of the proceedings does not permit it to give final judgment," the ECJ said in a statement. "The joined cases must be referred back to the General Court." Eurallumina and Aughinish are owned by United Company RUSAL, which is the world's top aluminium producer and is majority-owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Rio Tinto , the world's second-largest miner, took over Alcan two years ago. The Commission has asked U.S. aluminium group Alcoa Inc to pay back most of the state aid it has received in Italy since 2006. The EU executive did not detail the amount. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Karen Foster)