Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) of 26 September 2012 — Italy v Commission
(Case T‑84/09)
EAGGF — Guarantee Section — Expenditure excluded from financing — Provision of information and promotion of agricultural products — Production of olive oil and table olives — Late payment
1. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision relating to the clearance of accounts in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGGF (Art. 296 TFEU) (see paras 17-20, 94-96)
2. Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Definitive refusal to accept responsibility for certain expenses — Need for a prior inter partes procedure (Commission Regulations No 1663/95, Art. 8(1) and No 885/2006, Art. 11(1) to (3)) (see paras 24-25, 32-35)
3. Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Refusal to accept responsibility for expenses arising from irregularities in the application of EU rules — Challenge by the Member State concerned — Burden of proof — Allocation between the Commission and the Member State (Council Regulations No 729/70 and No 1258/1999; Commission Regulation No 296/96, Recital 4 and Art. 4(2)(d)) (see paras 46, 120, 135-137)
4. Union law — Principles — Proportionality — Scope — Complete withdrawal of financial assistance granted by the EAGGF — Lawfulness — Conditions — Burden of proof — Finding of defects in the control system established by a Member State — Blanket correction of 10% of expenses – Lawfulness (see paras 75-78)
Re:
| APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decision 2008/960/EC of 8 December 2008 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) (OJ 2008 L 340, p. 99), in so far as it excludes certain expenditure incurred by the Italian Republic. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs. |