Judgment of the General Court of 10 April 2024 – Portugal v Commission

(Case T-512/22) ¹

(EAGF and EAFRD – Expenditure excluded from financing – Expenditure incurred by Portugal – Concept of ‘permanent grassland – Pro-rata system – On-the-spot checks – Proportionality – Principle of sincere cooperation – Article 54 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 – Article 34(5) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Parties

Applicant: Portuguese Republic (represented by: P. Barros da Costa and H. Almeida, acting as Agents, and N. Domingues and G. Gomes, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: J. Aquilina and B. Rechena, acting as Agents)

Re:

By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the Portuguese Republic seeks the partial annulment of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/908 of 8 June 2022 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 L 157 2022, p. 15), in so far as it relates to expenditure that the Portuguese Republic incurred in the amount of EUR 117 066 097.40 in respect of claim years 2016 to 2019.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.

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¹ OJ C 398, 17.10.2022.