Case T‑267/07

Italian Republic

v

European Commission

(EAGGF — Guarantee Section — Clearance of accounts — Expenditure excluded from financing — Excessive delay in the assessment by the Commission of the communications sent pursuant to Article 5(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 595/91 — Article 32(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 — Obligation to state reasons — Reasonable time)

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber), 7 June 2013

1.      Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision relating to the clearance of accounts in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGGF

(Art. 253 EC)

2.      Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Procedure — Obligations of the Commission — Duty to act within a reasonable time — Criteria for assessment

(Council Regulation No 595/91, Art. 5(2))

3.      Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Procedure — Decision of the Commission attributing part of the financial consequences of irregularities to the Member State concerned — Breach of the principle of reasonable time — Consequences

(Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 8(2))

4.      Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Amounts recoverable from the Member State — Regulation No 1290/2005 — Sums falling within the Community budget lost following irregularities or not recovered within reasonable deadlines — Right of the Commission to charge half of those sums to the Member State concerned — Automatic consequence of the passage of time, without any need to prove negligence of the national authorities

(Council Regulation No 1290/2005, Art. 32(5))

1.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 46, 51, 110)

2.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 59-62)

3.      A breach of the ‘reasonable time’ principle does not, as a general rule, warrant annulment of a decision adopted following an administrative procedure. It is only where the undue delay is likely to have an effect on the substance itself of the decision adopted following the administrative procedure that the failure to observe the ‘reasonable time’ principle affects the validity of the administrative procedure.

In the area of the procedure for clearance of EAGGF accounts, where it is only as a result of the lapse of time, in particular, of the Commission’s delay in adopting a decision on the clearance of accounts and of the change of the applicable legislation, that 50% of those consequences has been borne by the Member State concerned and 50% by the EAGGF, and where, therefore that excessive lapse of time has had an effect on the actual contents of the decision adopted following the administrative procedure, the infringement of the ‘reasonable time’ principle constitutes a ground for the partial annulment of that decision.

(see paras 80, 85, 86)

4.      By adopting Regulation No 1290/2005, on the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Council of the European Union set itself the objective in particular of creating a procedure which allows the Commission to uphold the interests of the Community budget by deciding to charge to the Member State concerned part of the amounts lost as a result of irregularities and which have not been recovered within reasonable deadlines. Article 32(5) of that regulation allows the Commission to charge to the Member State 50% of the sums lost as a result of irregularities or which are not recovered in a reasonable time, without having to show case by case that the failure to recover or the delay in recovering the sums in question is the result of the negligence of the national authorities. The charging to the national budget of 50% of the financial burden resulting from the failure to recover or the delay in recovering is an automatic consequence of the mere passage of time.

(see paras 107, 108)