Fifteen months after Minister of Transportation, Óscar Puenteannounced that Renfe would denounce Ouigo to the European Commission for considering that he performs unfair practices with his low prices, the Spanish public operator He has not yet presented any cause against the French in Brussels. Sources of the Spanish company confirm such an extreme and add that, having chosen to raise the complaint to the European Commission and not before the Court of Justice of the European Union (TJUE), they do not have a temporary limit that forces them to finish the report within a specific period.
Hostilities against ouigo come from afar. Bridge unleashed at the beginning of last year in a surprising way in Congress an offensive against ouigo considering that incur “dumping” with its low prices policymarketing, as argued, to losses its services in order to expel its competitors Renfe and Iryo of the market taking advantage of the financial muscle of its matrix, the French public SNCF, which would allow him to sustain this policy. This practice, according to Puente, would be serious eroding Renfe accounts.
The minister announced in March 2024 that, in view of Ouigo’s attitude, they were considering denouncing the company against the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). However, they finally chose to prepare a complaint to raise before the European Commission, as announced in June last year.
Although at the end of last year from the ministerial environment it was transferred that the document was finalizing, the truth is that the year 2025 faces its final stretch without the report having seen the light and has been submitted to the community authorities.
European justifies
From Renfe, they have always argued that it is logical that completing a document of this caliber takes time not only for their complexity but also because they intend collect the support of the commission since from the operator, As the reason reported last Decemberit is not ruled out later to denounce Ouigo before the EU Court of Justice.
The support of the European Commission is essential for the operator to consider this step because it considers that it would only have victory options in this court if it is presented with contrasted arguments. And an endorsement of the Commission would constitute in this regard a great weight.
Despite the accusations released by Renfe, since Ouigo have always been quiet. The French company has defended themselves from these accusations ensuring that its strategy is perfectly legalAnd that continuesthe Logic of any company that aims to enter a new market. However, they add that their low price policy is structural and is viable according to ouigo thanks toa model based on the production without extra cost, scales economy and of high occupation of its trains -90%, according to their data –. The French operator also defends that her industrial model is not financed from France.
Ouigo’s strategy has also been endorsed in a certain sense by the CNMC. In it “Report on the balance of the transportation of travelers by railway” which he published in May of last year, Competition argues that losses are logical when an operator disembarks in a new market Because “entry into the rail market is expensive and Benefits in the first exercises cannot be expectedeven less with the unfavorable situation of mobility restrictions (Covid-19 pandemic) and energy costs. “
Ouigo, once it has already been deployed in all high -speed runners after their arrival in Andalusia, He hopes to improve his financial result this year and record a Improvement of its Ebitda profitability greater than 50%. Ouigo closed 2023 with a negative Ebitda of 19 million euros; What this indicator would take to the 9 million environment in 2024, in the absence of closing, auditing and publishing the annual accounts. It would be the second consecutive year that the SNCF subsidiary improves its profitability, after its EBITDA stood at -20 million in 2022 and at -19 million in 2023.
The French operator lost 42.7 million euros in Spain last year, 17% more than in the previous year, when it registered red numbers of 36.6 million euros. In total, accumulates red numbers of 121 million euros Since their trains began to circulate in the spring of 2021.