The government and financial services group ING are appealing against a European Commission decision to declare the bank’s speedy repayment of part of a €10bn capital injection additional state support.

ING paid the government back €5bn in December 2009, which means it has to pay a lower rate of interest on the rest. But this, the Commission says, amounts to €2bn state support and should be treated as such.
The finance ministry says it wants to end all its investments in the financial sector as soon as possible and plans to talk to ING about the final pay back as soon as possible. But this decision by the Commission will make that more difficult, the ministry said in a press release.