Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 19 April 2013 — Aecops v Commission
(Case T‑51/11)
ESF — Training operations — Reduction in financial assistance initially granted — Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 — Time-bar — Legal certainty — Rights of the defence — Reasonable period — Duty to state reasons
1. Own resources of the European Union — Regulation on protection of the financial interests of the Union — Prosecution of irregularities — Limitation period — Decision to reduce financial assistance initially granted under the European Social Fund — Competent national authority entrusted with recovery of sums unduly paid — Inapplicability of the limitation period against the Commission (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Art. 3(1)) (see paras 42-48, 50, 52)
2. EU law — Principles — Duty to act within a reasonable time — Administrative procedure — Criteria for assessment (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(1)) (see paras 56-58)
3. Social policy — European Social Fund — Financial assistance for vocational training — Accuracy of facts and accounts in final payment claims to be certified by the Member State — Scope and limits — Decision to reduce assistance initially granted — Principle of the protection of legitimate expectations — Duty to act within a reasonable time — Rights of defence — No infringement (Council Regulation No 2950/83, Arts 6(1), and 7(1); Council Decision 83/516, Art. 2(2); Commission Decision 83/673, Art. 7) (see paras 59, 63, 68, 71, 73, 74)
4. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Commission decision, on the proposition of a Member State, reducing assistance for the European Social Fund for vocational training — No infringement of the duty to state reasons (Art. 296 TFEU) (see paras 78-81, 94)
Re:
| APPLICATION for annulment of the Commission’s decision of 27 October 2010 setting the final amount of the expenditure eligible for assistance from the European Social Fund (ESF), granted to the applicant for training operations by Decision C(88) 831 of 29 April 1988 for the funding of training operations (file 88 0369 P1). |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Associação de Empresas de Construção e Obras Públicas e Serviços (Aecops) to pay the costs. |