Action brought on 23 December 2008 - Germany v Commission

(Case T-576/08)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: M. Lumma and B. Klein)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

annul Commission Regulation (EC) No 983/2008 of 3 October 2008 adopting the plan allocating to the Member States resources to be charged to the 2009 budget year for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Community;

maintain the effects of the annulled regulation;

order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant seeks the annulment of Commission Regulation (EC) No 983/2008 of 3 October 2008, ¹ which contains the annual plan for 2009 in respect of the distribution of food to the most deprived persons in the Community.

In the applicant's submission, the regulation has no legal basis in Community law. While it was adopted on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, ² which in turn has the common agricultural policy of the Community (Articles 36 and 37 EC, in conjunction with Article 33 EC) as legal basis, it does not, however, meet the requirements laid down therein.

The plan was originally devised by way of a competence ancillary to the common agricultural policy as essentially available intervention stocks were used for a social purpose. For several years, on the other hand, the plan has been operating exclusively through the purchase of food on the market since, because of common foreign policy reforms, intervention stocks hardly remain. The applicant regards the plan today as a purely social-policy instrument of the Community for which there is no legal basis (principle of conferred powers).

The contested regulation is thus not compatible with the requirements in Article 27(2) of Regulation No 1234/2007 which allows the purchase of food for the plan only if intervention stocks have temporarily reached their capacity. In the meantime it has, however, become a permanent state of affairs that the purchase of food largely predominates.

Nor does the contested regulation pursue any of the objectives of the common agricultural policy that are laid down in Article 33(1) EC.

In order to avoid difficulties in the execution of the annual plan, the applicant calls on the court to limit the effects of the annulment to the provision on purchases in Article 2 of Regulation No 983/2008 in conjunction with Annex II thereto.

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¹ - Commission Regulation (EC) No 983/2008 of 3 October 2008 adopting the plan allocating to the Member States resources to be charged to the 2009 budget year for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Community (OJ 2008 L 268, p. 3).

² - Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation) (OJ 2007 L 299, p. 1).