Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Seventh Chamber) of 30 September 2009 – Netherlands v Commission

(Case T-55/07)

EAGGF – Guarantee Section – Expenditure excluded from Community financing – Rural development support – Transitional measures – Concept of ‘multi-annual expenditure’ – Article 4(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 2603/1999

1.                     Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing (Art. 10 EC; Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 8(1)) (see paras 62, 113)

2.                     Community law – Principles – Protection of legitimate expectations – Conditions (Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 5(2)(c)) (see para. 99)

3.                     Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope (Art. 253 EC) (see paras 124-125)

Re:

APPLICATION for partial annulment of Commission Decision 2006/932/EC of 14 December 2006 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2006 L 355, p. 96) in so far as it relates to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and more particularly with regard to the financial correction applied to the reimbursement of ineligible expenditure in the framework of the EAGGF, Guarantee Section, for the year 2002 in the amount of EUR 5.67 million.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Order the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay the costs.