Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 22 May 2012 —
Portugal v Commission
(Case T‑345/10)
EAGGF — Guidance Section — Reduction of financial assistance — Measures to support investments in agricultural holdings — Effectiveness of controls
1. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGGF financing — Decision on the clearance of accounts — Time-limit — Non-compliance — No effect on the Commission’s obligation to refuse to allow expenses incurred in breach of Community rules (Council Regulation No 1260/1999, Arts 38 and 39; Commission Regulation No 448/2001, Art. 5(3)) (see para. 32)
2. 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 para. 65)
3. Member States — Obligations — Duty of loyal cooperation — Application of procedural and substantive rules of national law — Conditions (Art. 4(3) TEU) (see para. 74)
4. Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules — Challenge by the Member State concerned — Burden of proof — Allocation between the Commission and the Member State (see paras 75, 109)
5. Actions for annulment — Contested act — Assessment of lawfulness — Criteria (Art. 263 TFEU) (see para. 86)
Re:
| ANNULMENT of Commission Decision C(2010) 4255 of 29 June 2010 concerning the application of financial corrections to assistance from the EAGGF, Guidance Section, allocated to Operational Programme No CCI 1999.PT.06.1.PO.007 (Portugal — National Objective 1 programme) for the measure ‘Investments in agricultural holdings’. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs. |