Judgment of the General Court of 24 October 2018 — Nova v Commission

(Case T-299/15) ¹

(Arbitration clause — Grant agreement concluded in the context of the pilot project seeking to establish a network of contacts and discussions between municipalities on experiences and best practices in respect of the resettlement and integration of refugees — No objective assessment of the outcome of the project — Proportionality — Repayment of the sums paid — Measures of inquiry — Counterclaim)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: Nova Onlus Consorzio nazionale di cooperative sociali — Soc. coop. (Trani, Italy) (represented by: M. Astolfi and M. Petrucci, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: initially, L. Di Paolo and L. Cappelletti, subsequently L. Di Paolo, and finally O. Verheecke and F. Moro, acting as Agents, and A. Dal Ferro, lawyer)

Re:

First, application based on Article 272 TFEU seeking, in essence, a declaration that the Commission is not justified in reclaiming from the applicant the sum of EUR 80 242.78 pursuant to the Grant Agreement HOME/2011/PPRS/AG/2176 and a direction requiring the Commission to pay EUR 52 146.36 plus default interest, and, second, counterclaim of the Commission seeking a direction requiring the applicant to repay the sum of EUR 80 242.78 plus default interest in performance of that Grant Agreement.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Declares that the European Commission is not justified, pursuant to the Grant Agreement with the reference HOME/2011/PPRS/AG/2176, to reclaim from Nova Onlus Consorzio nazionale di cooperative sociali — Soc. coop. 15% of the costs associated with the website of the Transnational Observatory for Refugees’ Resettlement in Europe project, namely EUR 3 002.45;

Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

Orders Nova Onlus Consorzio nazionale di cooperative sociali to pay to the Commission, pursuant to that agreement, the amount of EUR 77 240.33, increased by default interest at the rate of 3.55% from 19 May 2015 until full payment of that amount is made;

Dismisses the counterclaim as to the remainder;

Orders Nova Onlus Consorzio nazionale di cooperative sociali to bear its own costs and to pay two thirds of those incurred by the Commission;

Orders the Commission to bear one third of its own costs.

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¹ OJ C 254, 3.8.2015.