Judgment of the General Court of 2 December 2014 — Italy v Commission
(Case T-661/11) 1
(EAGGF — ‘Guarantee’ Section — EAGF and EAFRD — Expenditure excluded from financing — Milk products — Assigned revenue — Key controls — Lateness — Flat-rate financial correction — Legal basis — Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 1605/2002 — Recurrence)
Language of the case: Italian
Parties
Applicant: Italian Republic (represented by: G. Palmieri, acting as Agent, and G. Aiello and P. Grasso, avvocati dello Stato)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: P. Rossi and D. Nardi, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application for annulment of Commission Implementing Decision 2011/689/EC of 14 October 2011 on excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2011 L 270, p. 33), in so far as it imposes on the Italian Republic a flat-rate financial correction of EUR 70 912 382 in respect of irregularities in controls concerning milk quotas, found in the Italian regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche, Puglia, Sardinia, Calabria, Friuli Venezia Guilia and Valle d’Aosta, in the years 2004/2005, 2005/2006 and 2006/2007.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders the Italian Republic to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission.
________________________1 OJ C 49, 18.2.2012.