Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 2 February 2012 —
Greece v Commission
(Case T‑469/09)
EAGGF — Guarantee Section — Expenses excluded from Community financing — Tomato processing and rice storage sectors — Integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes — Principle of proportionality
1. 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 No 1258/1999) (see paras 29‑34, 78)
2. Procedure — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Pleas not set out in the application — General reference to documents annexed to the application — Inadmissible (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 44(1)(c)) (see para. 47)
3. Acts of the institutions — Regulations — Regulation prescribing specific control measures — No discretion of the Member States — Non-implementation — Justification — Other control system as effective or better — Not permissible (see para. 80)
4. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGGF financing — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in the application of Community rules — Finding of failures in the control system implemented by a Member State — Possibility for the Commission to disallow expenses as a whole — Application of a flat-rate correction — Breach of principle of proportionality — None (Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 7; Commission Regulation No 2148/96, Arts 4 and 6) (see paras 137, 140, 147)
5. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGGF financing — Grant of aids and subsidies — Obligation of Member States to organise an efficient system of administrative controls and on-the-spot checks — Failure to fulfil obligations — Justification based on practical difficulties — Not permissible (see paras 150‑152)
Re:
| APPLICATION of annulment of Commission Decision 2009/721/EC of 24 September 2009 excluding from Community 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 2009 L 257, p. 28). |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs. |