Judgment of the General Court of 21 June 2012 - Spain v Commission
(Joined Cases T-178/10, T-263/10 and T-265/10)
(Operational programmes of the Cohesion Fund and of the ERDF managed by Spain - Request for interim payment - Evidence suggesting significant deficiency in functioning of management and control systems - Measures interrupting the period for payment - Action for annulment - Admissibility - Audit strategy - Legal certainty - Legitimate expectations - Proportionality)
Language of the case: Spanish
Parties
Applicant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: N. Díaz Abad, agent)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: C. Urraca Caviedes and B. Conte and, in Case T-178/10, A. Steiblytė, agents)
Re:
Actions against the Commission decisions of 12 February 2010 (Case T-178/10), 8 April 2010 (Case T-263/10) and 15 April 2010 (Case T-265/10) informing the Spanish authorities of the interruption of the period for the settlement of certain requests for interim payment submitted by the Kingdom of Spain.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Orders that Cases T-178/10, T-263/10 and T-265/10 be joined for the purposes of judgment;
Dismisses the actions;
Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
____________1 - OJ C 161, 19.6.2010.