Judgment of the General Court of 7 February 2024 – Austria v Commission
(Case T-501/22) 1
(EAGF and EAFRD – Expenditure excluded from financing – Expenditure incurred by Austria – Reduction coefficient – Article 24(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 – Article 30(7)(b) of Regulation No 1307/2013 – Article 52(4)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 – Obligation to state reasons)
Language of the case: German
Parties
Applicant: Republic of Austria (represented by: J. Schmoll and A. Kögl, acting as Agents)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: J. Aquilina and A. Becker, acting as Agents)
Re:
By its action based on Article 263 TFEU, the Republic of Austria seeks the annulment of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/908 of 8 June 2022 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2022 L 157, p. 15), in so far as it excluded from EU financing expenditure declared under the EAGF by the Republic of Austria in the amount of EUR 68 146 449.98.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/908 of 8 June 2022 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), in so far as it excludes from EU financing, as regards the financial correction identified in the table annexed to that decision by way of the reason ‘allocation of entitlements convergence’, concerning the financial years 2016 to 2020, expenditure incurred by the Republic of Austria under the EAGF prior to 27 November 2016;
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
Orders the Republic of Austria and the European Commission to bear their own costs.
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1 OJ C 389, 10.10.2022.