Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 7 February 1990. - Gemeente Amsterdam et Stichting Vrouwenvakschool voor Informatica Amsterdam (VIA) v Commission of the European Communities. - European Social Fund - Action for the annulment of a refusal to grant an application for financial assistance. - Case C-213/87.



European Court reports 1990 Page I-00221

Pub.RJ Page Pub somm



Summary

Parties

Operative part



Summary

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1.It follows from the provisions governing the granting of assistance from the European Social Fund for the financing of vocational training courses that the Commission can adjudicate upon applications for assistance only on the basis of the forms by means of which those applications must be submitted .

When it is not clear from the description of the proposed course contained in the application that the training fits in with the policies adopted to meet Community priorities laid down by the Council, the Commission does not commit a manifest error of assessment by refusing to grant assistance from the Fund .

The Commission is also justified in rejecting an application completely, without considering the possibility of granting it in part in view of the fact that the planned training is not entirely outside the priority sphere, if the application is submitted in such a way that it is impossible to separate the courses which qualify and those which do not .

2.Although the Court has consistently held ( see in particular the judgment of 25 October 1984 in Case 185/83 University of Groningen (( 1984 )) ECR 3623 ) that the statement of grounds required by Article 190 of the Treaty must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the Community authority which adopted the measure in question in such a way as to make the persons concerned aware of the reasons for the measure and thus enable them to defend their rights and the Court to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction, nevertheless the authority is not required to give details of all relevant factual and legal aspects . The question whether the statement of grounds for a decision meets those requirements must be assessed with regard not only to its wording but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question .

The conciseness of the statement of reasons for a decision by which the Commission refuses assistance from the European Social Fund for a vocational training course is an unavoidable consequence of the processing by computer of several thousand applications for assistance upon which the Commission must adjudicate within a short period . A more detailed statement of reasons in support of each individual decision would therefore be likely to compromise the rational and efficient allocation of the financial assistance from the Fund .

Parties

In Case C-213/87

( 1)Gemeente Amsterdam,

( 2)Stichting Vrouwenvakschool voor Informatica Amsterdam ( VIA ),

represented by J . Werner and W . D . T . D . Wiarda, of the Amsterdam Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Jacques Loesch, 8 rue Zithe,

applicants,

v

Commission of the European Communities, represented by Julian Currall and Pieter-Jan Kuyper, members of its Legal Department, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Georgios Kremlis, also a member of its Legal Department, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg,

defendant,

APPLICATION for a declaration that Commission Decision C(87 ) 0670 of 31 March 1987 concerning assistance from the European Social Fund for the financing of schemes submitted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands for 1987 is void,

THE COURT ( Second Chamber )

composed of : F . A . Schockweiler, President of Chamber, G . F . Mancini and T . F . O' Higgins, Judges,

hereby :

Operative part

( 1)Dismisses the application;

( 2)Orders the applicants to pay the costs .