Appeal brought on 5 October 2017 by the Kingdom of Belgium against the judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) delivered on 20 July 2017 in Case T-287/16, Belgium v Commission
(Case C-587/17 P)
Language of the case: French
Parties
Appellant: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: J.-C. Halleux, M. Jacobs and C. Pochet, acting as Agents, and by E. Grégoire and J. Mariani, avocats)
Other party to the proceedings: European Commission
Form of order sought
The appellant claims that the Court should:
set aside the judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) of 20 July 2017 in Case T-287/16, Belgium v Commission (EU:T:2017:531);
annul Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/417 of 17 March 2016 1 in so far as it excludes from European Union financing the sum of EUR 9 601 619.00 (budget item 6701);
order the Commission to pay the costs.
Grounds of appeal and main arguments
In support of its appeal, the appellant relies on a single ground of appeal, alleging an error of law resulting from a misinterpretation by the General Court of Article 32(8)(a) of Regulation No 1290/2005, 2 now, essentially, Article 54(5)(c) of Regulation No 1306/2013, 3 both with regard to the prior exhaustion of national rights of action and with regard to the due care required by that provision.
____________
1 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/417 of 17 March 2016 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2016 L 75, p. 16).
2 Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (OJ 2005 L 209, p. 1).
3 Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008 (OJ 2013 L 347, p. 549; corrigendum OJ 2016 L 130, p. 6).