Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2016:123
Date: 2016-03-03
Language of the case: Spanish
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Spain

summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — General reference to documents annexed to the application — Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Art. 44(1)(c)) (see paras 32-35) 2. Agriculture — EAGGF, EAGF and EAFRD financing — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Challenge by the Member State concerned — Burden of proof — Shared by the Commission and the Member State (Council Regulation No 1290/2005, Art. 31) (see paras 39, 40) 3. Agriculture — EAGGF, EAGF and EAFRD financing — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Assessment of losses suffered by the funds — Irregular expenses not capable of being determined with sufficient precision — Assessment based on flat-rate corrections — Lawfulness — No breach of principle of proportionality (Council Regulation No 1290/2005, Art. 31) (see paras 43-45, 48, 54) 4. EU law — Principles — Proportionality — Scope (Art. 5(4) TEU) (see para. 51) 5. Agriculture — EAGGF, EAGF and EAFRD financing — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Financial correction — Cumulation of analytical and flat-rate corrections — Lawfulness — Conditions (Council Regulation No 1290/2005, Art. 31(2)) (see paras 69, 70) 6. Agriculture — EAGGF, EAGF and EAFRD financing — Clearance of accounts — Period capable of being the subject-matter of a financial correction — Period subsequent to the date of the written communication of the results of the checks — Lawfulness — Conditions (Council Regulations No 1290/2005, Art. 31(4)(a), and No 885/2006, Art. 11(3)) (see paras 94-97) 7. EU law — Principles — Rights of defence — Scope (see para. 101) Re: APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Implementing Decision 2014/458/EU of 9 July 2014 excluding from EU financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2005 L 205, p. 62) in so far as it concerns certain expenditure incurred by the Kingdom of Spain in the amount of EUR 2 713 208.07. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to bear its own costs and to pay the costs incurred by the European Commission; 3. Orders the Republic of Latvia to bear its own costs.