Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) of 26 February 2013 — Spain v Commission
(Joined Cases T‑65/10, T‑113/10 and T‑138/10)
ERDF — Reduction of financial assistance — Operational Programmes for ‘Andalusia’ and ‘Comunidad Valenciana’ Objective 1 (1994-1999) — Operational Programme for ‘Basque Country’ Objective 2 (1997-1999) — Extrapolation
1. EU law — Principles — Acts of the institutions — Proportionality (see para. 39)
2. EU law — Principles — Acts of the institutions — Legal certainty (see para. 41)
3. Judicial proceedings — Duration of the procedure before the General Court — Reasonable time — Criteria for assessment — Consequences (see paras 42-44, 52, 54, 55)
4. Actions for annulment — Admissibility — Res judicata — Limits (see paras 60-64)
5. 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 (Council Regulation 4253/88, Arts 23 and 24) (see paras 94, 95, 97, 98, 101, 102)
6. Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Definitive refusal to accept responsibility for certain expenses — Need for prior inter partes procedure (see paras 96, 110)
7. Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Power of the Commission to monitor the regularity of expenses — Appearance of a reasonable doubt — Burden of proof on the Member State (see para. 100)
8. Economic, social and territorial cohesion — Structural assistance — Community financing granted for national projects — Principles — Decision to suspend, reduce or cancel financial assistance originally granted owing to irregularities — Account taken of irregularities without a precise financial impact — Lawfulness (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2)) (see para. 106)
9. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Right of the Commission to bring judicial proceedings — To be exercised at its discretion (Art. 258 TFEU) (see para. 108)
10. Economic, social and territorial cohesion — Structural assistance — Community financing granted for national projects — Financing conditional on compliance with Community political regulations — Suspension or reduction of financial assistance granted for a national project — Procedure distinct from and independent of an action for failure to fulfil obligations (Art. 258 TFEU; Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2)) (see para. 109)
11. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Subject matter — Finding of failure to fulfil obligations — Proceedings abandoned by the Commission — Procedure for clearance of EAGGF accounts — Subject matter — Allocation of financial burdens between Member States and the Community — Discretion of the Commission — None (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2)) (see para. 110)
12. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGGF financing — Assessment of complex factual and accounting situations — Discretion of the Commission — Judicial review — Limits (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2)) (see para. 127)
Re:
| APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decisions C(2009) 9270 of 30 November 2009, C(2009) 10678 of 23 December 2009 and C(2010) 337 of 28 January 2010 reducing the aid from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) granted under, respectively, the operational programme ‘Andalusia’ Objective 1 (1994-1999) under Commission Decision C(94) 3456 of 9 December 1994, the operational programme ‘Basque Country’ Objective 2 (1997-1999) under Commission Decision C(1998) 121 of 5 February 1998, and the operational programme ‘Comunidad Valenciana’ Objective 1 (1994-1999) under Commission Decision C(1994) 3043/6 of 25 November 1994. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs. |