The German government has demanded that Deutsche Post DHL repay 298 million euros in state aid, following a European Commission ruling in January that the money must be returned.
However, the figure is less than that 500m euros – 1bn euros that had originally been expected.
The commission began an investigation into state aid in 2007 relating to pension expenses.
Deutsche Post DHL and the German government have filed an appeal with the European Court of Justice against the ruling.
The company said the ruling was incomprehensible, because the commission addressed matters it had already examined during similar state aid proceedings from 2002. That had ended in a defeat for the commission in September 2010 as a result of a company appeal in the ultimate legal instance.
