Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2002:57
Date: 2002-03-05
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Fisheries policy
Concepts: Common structural policy
Procedure: Action for damages - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Order 
Applications for interim measures — Suspension of operation — Interim measures — 
Conditions of granting — Urgency — Serious and irreparable damage — Burden of 
proof — Commission decision reducing Community financial aid — Recipient's rights 
adversely affected — Account taken of the situation of the group to which the 
undertaking belongs 
(Arts 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2» 
The urgent nature of an application for 
interim relief must be assessed in relation to 
the need to make an interim order in order 
to prevent serious and irreparable damage 
being caused to the party seeking that 
relief. It falls to that party to prove that it 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-241/00 R 
cannot await the outcome of the main 
proceedings without suffering damage of 
that kind. 
As regards the consequences of delaying 
payment of the balance of Community 
financial aid, it should be pointed out that 
prejudice to the rights of persons regarded 
as being recipients of aid is inherent in any 
decision by the Commission requiring its 
reduction and cannot in itself be considered 
to constitute serious and irreparable 
damage, independently of a concrete assess­
ment of the gravity and the irreparable 
nature of the alleged damage in each case 
considered. While it is true that, in order to 
establish the existence of serious and irre­
parable damage, it is not necessary to 
require that the occurrence of the damage 
should be established with absolute cer­
tainty and that it is sufficient for that 
damage to be predictable with a sufficient 
degree of probability, the party seeking the 
measure is still required to prove the facts 
alleged to form the basis of the likelihood 
of such serious and irreparable damage. 
In considering the financial viability of a 
limited liability company managed on a 
family basis, an assessment of its financial 
situation may be made, in particular, by 
taking into consideration characteristics of 
the group to which its shareholders belong. 
(see paras 32-34, 39) 
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