Judgment of the General Court of 19 June 2015 — Italy v Commission

(Case T-358/11) ¹

(EAGGF — Guarantee Section — EAGF and EAFRD — Expenditure excluded from financing — Public storage of sugar — Increase in costs in connection with warehousing rental — Annual inventory of stocks — Physical inspections of storage areas — Legal certainty — Legitimate expectations — Proportionality — Obligation to state reasons — Risk of financial damage to the funds — Effectiveness)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: Italian Republic (represented by: G. Palmieri, acting as Agent, and P. Marchini, avvocato dello Stato)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: P. Rossi and D. Nardi, acting as Agents)

Re:

Action for annulment of Commission Implementing Decision 2011/244/EU of 15 April 2011 of 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 102, p. 33), in so far as it excludes certain expenditure incurred by the Italian Republic, and of the Commission’s letters of 3 February 2010 and 3 January 2011 as acts preparatory to that decision.

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.

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¹ OJ C 252, 27.8.2011.