62015TJ0156_INF
Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 12 March 2019 –France v Commission
(Case T‑156/15)
(EAGF and EAFRD — Expenditure excluded from EU financing — Expenditure incurred by France — Area-related aid scheme — Procedural safeguards — Regulation (EC) No 885/2006 — Concept of ‘permanent pasture’ — Regulation (EC) No 1120/2009 — National control system based on a definition of forage areas which is not consistent with EU law — Exclusion of all the expenditure — Proportionality — Metropolitan France’s rural development programme — Rural development support measures — Areas with natural handicaps — Regulation (EC) No 1975/2006 — Regulation (EU) No 65/2011 — Flat-rate financial correction — On-the-spot checks — Loading criterion — Counting of animals — Temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry — Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 — Regulation (EC) No 968/2006 — Conditions for the grant of restructuring aid — Concept of ‘production facilities’ — Assessment of the use of silos on the date of submission of the aid application — Concept of ‘full dismantling’ — Proportionality — Equal treatment — Annex 2 to document VI/5330/97)
1.
Agriculture — EAGF and EAFRD financing — Clearance of accounts — Definitive refusal to accept responsibility for certain expenses — Need for prior inter partes procedure — Communication by the Commission of the results of verifications — Obligation to identify in a precise manner the irregularities which the Member State concerned is alleged to have committed — Scope
(Council Regulation No 1290/2005, Art. 31; Commission Regulation No 885/2006, Art. 11(1))
(see paras 92-96, 108, 123)
2.
Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Identification of the subject matter of the dispute — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Unambiguous wording of the form of order sought by the applicant
(Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 21 and 53; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 76)
(see para. 144)
3.
Agriculture — EAFRD financing — Grant of aid and premiums — Obligation on the Member States to organise an effective system of administrative and on-site checks — Requirement for a census of animals — Livestock loading criterion — Rules for calculation — Verification of that criterion during the checks in respect of animal identification or animal premium — Whether permissible — Conditions
(Commission Regulations No 1975/2006, Arts 5(2), 12, 14(2) and 15(3) and No 65/2011, Arts 4(4), 12 and 14(2))
(see paras 159, 161, 164, 165, 168, 174, 176, 178, 180, 188)
4.
Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Temporary scheme for restructuring the sugar industry — Restructuring aid — Concept of production facilities — Silos intended to store the aid beneficiary’s sugar — Included — Silos also used for other purposes — No effect — Silos used only to store sugar, produced under quota, from other producers or bought from those producers — Silos used only to pack or package sugar for the purposes of marketing — Not included
(Council Regulation No 320/2006, Arts 3 and 4; Commission Regulation No 968/2006, Art. 4)
(see paras 200, 201)
5.
Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Temporary scheme for restructuring the sugar industry — Restructuring aid — Conditions for granting — Dismantling of production facilities — Full or partial dismantling — Definition — Choice to be made when making the aid application — Obligation to identify all the production facilities to be dismantled on that date
(Council Regulation No 320/2006, Art. 3(1), (4) and (5), and Art. 4(2) and (3); Commission Regulation No 968/2006, Arts 4(1)(b) and (2), and 9(2)(a) and (c))
(see paras 206-218, 222, 227-229, 244, 245, 255, 256)
6.
Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Temporary scheme for restructuring the sugar industry — Restructuring aid — Concept of production facilities — Dismantling of those facilities — Application of a financial correction of 25% to aid paid to producers having benefited from aid for full dismantlement while maintaining storage silos — Breach of the principles of proportionality and equal treatment — None
(Council Regulation No 320/2006, Arts 3 and 4; Commission Regulation No 968/2006, Art. 4)
(see paras 263-265, 273, 274)
Re:
Application pursuant to Article 263 TFEU seeking the partial annulment of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/103 of 16 January 2015 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2015 L 16, p. 33).
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Annuls Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/103 of 16 January 2015 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in so far as it excludes from European Union financing all the expenditure incurred by the French Republic in Upper Corsica in respect of first pillar area-related direct aid relating to the 2010 and 2011 claim years;
2.
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
3.
Orders the European Commission and the French Republic to bear their own costs;
4.
Orders the Italian Republic and Hungary to bear their own costs.