Action brought on 3 September 2008 - Spain v Commission

(Case T-360/08)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: J. Rodríguez Cárcamo)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

Disapply the Guidelines for determining the financial corrections applicable to expenses co-financed by the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund in the event of failure to comply with the public procurement rules, final version of 29 November 2007, COCOF 07/0037/03-ES,

annul the Decision of the Commission of the European Communities of 25 June 2008, C(2008) 3247, in so far as it reduces financial assistance from the Cohesion Fund to project group No 2001.ES.16.C.P.E.036 (cleaning of the Hydrographic Basin of the North - Galicia-2001), and

order the Commission of the European Communities to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

This dispute concerns a group of projects for the improvement of existing and newly-constructed pumping stations, the expansion, conditioning and improvement of the drainage network and cleaning, situated in various parts of Galicia. The Community co-financing initially granted by the Commission amounted to 80% of the public cost eligible for subsidy.

In July 2007, the Commission sent a letter to the applicant suggesting corrections to remedy the irregularities that came to light during an earlier audit. The conclusions of the letter specified the two irregularities which together provided the reason for the contested decision and the corresponding proposals for financial corrections: the incorrect use of the emergency procedure in relation to a procurement contract and the wrong use of experience as an award criterion for various contracts. The proposals for financial correction amount to EUR 697,901 and EUR 354,591 respectively.

The pleas in law and main arguments are those put forward in Case T-359/08 Spain v Commission.

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