Request for a preliminary ruling from the Varhoven administrativen sad (Bulgaria) lodged on 25 July 2023 – Obshtina Veliko Tarnovo v Rakovoditel na Upravlyavashtia organ na Operativna programa ‘Regioni v rastezh’ 2014 – 2020
(Case C-471/23, Obshtina Veliko Tarnovo)
Language of the case: Bulgarian
Referring court
Varhoven administrativen sad
Parties to the main proceedings
Appellant: Obshtina Veliko Tarnovo
Respondent: Rakovoditel na Upravlyavashtia organ na Operativna programa ‘Regioni v rastezh’ 2014 – 2020
Questions referred
Does the manager of State aid in the form of resources from European Structural and Investment Funds (‘ESI Funds’) who is not the recipient of the aid fall into the category of a ‘beneficiary’ of aid in the context of State aid within the meaning of Article 2(10) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006?
Can the manager of State aid in the form of resources from ESI Funds who is not the person using the aid on the basis of a public contract be the right addressee of a decision determining a financial correction to be imposed on account of a breach of national or EU law committed in connection with the awarding of the public contract?
With regard to the person who is the addressee of the administrative measure comprising a financial correction on account of an irregularity within the meaning of Article 2(36) of Regulation No 1303/2013, in the case of State aid in the form of resources from ESI Funds, must two cumulative conditions be satisfied, namely that the person is the recipient of the grant from the resources which are affected by the irregularity and is also the person who used the resources in question?
Can liability for breaches of the law in the use of State aid in the form of resources from ESI Funds be regulated or reassigned by a contract between the beneficiary and the aid manager, or does liability lie with the beneficiary of the aid who uses it unlawfully?
Is there joint and several liability of the aid beneficiary and the aid manager, and must such liability be prescribed in the contract awarding the aid?
Do Articles 41 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union preclude a national administrative practice and case-law in a case such as that in the main proceedings, whereby a ‘public service operator’, such as the Organizatsia na dvizhenieto, parkingi i garazhi EOOD, which is alleged to have been found in breach, in the procedure implemented by it, of the Zakon za obshtestvenite porachki (Law on public procurement) in connection with the award of a public contract in the procedure for the use of resources from ESI Funds (which constitute State aid), is granted neither the right to participate in the procedure for determining a financial correction in respect of a contract which it has concluded nor the right to participate in the judicial proceedings challenging that administrative act, on the ground that the said operator, as a partner of the municipality, bears civil liability for redress under the partnership agreement?
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1 OJ 2013 L 347, p. 320.