4.

In the light of the foregoing, it is abundantly clear that, rather than having to examine in detail the process of adjustment which has been commenced by the defendant (and its relative state of advancement) in order to ascertain whether the Commission's charges are well-founded, or in other words to establish whether the Portuguese Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations, it is sufficient to establish: (a) whether, at the date fixed by the reasoned opinion, the Portuguese Government had adopted measures designed to eliminate by the end of the transitional period all discrimination between nationals of the Member States and (b) whether the creation of quotas, as described in the Commission's recommendation, is indispensable with a view to achieving that result. The Commission argues that the defendant has not yet initiated the adjustment of the monopolies at issue: the measures adopted to date are only preparatory steps with a view to a future adjustment. To my mind, such a claim suggests that the Commission is not denying that the Portuguese Government has already embarked upon the process of adjusting the monopolies, in the sense that, at the date laid down for complying with the reasoned opinion, it was already taking steps to restructure its State monopolies. Indeed, as regards the monopolies in ethyl alcohol of agricultural and non-agricultural origin, the Portuguese Government has, with the help of Community subsidies, already started to convert fig production and has set in motion a progressive reduction in the price of figs for distillation. In addition, it has reduced the staff of the body responsible for administering the monopoly in question (the AGA) and has started to dismantle its storage capacity. The fact that such measures have been taken is not questioned by the Commission in any way. As regards, on the other hand, the monopoly in wine spirits for use in the making of port wine, the Portuguese Government maintains that, following the adoption of the Decree-Law of 30 May 1988, the Instituto do Vinho do Porto (IVP) no longer has exclusive rights to purchase wine spirits from and distribute them to wine producers, but confines itself to defending the purity and national and international prestige of port wine. Furthermore, the importation of wine spirits is now conducted by means of public tenders in which any traders in the Community may participate. Admittedly, the Commission denies that those measures are sufficient to preclude discrimination. However, as far as that is concerned, it is sufficient to observe that such charges cannot be substantiated until the end of the transitional period, that is to say, at the date by which the Member State in question is under a duty to have fulfilled its obligation to eliminate all discrimination. In the final analysis, the Portuguese Republic certainly cannot be accused of having deferred the implementation of the progressive adjustment until the end of the transitional period, since there is no doubt that as from the beginning of the transitional period it has adopted a number of measures designed to ‘create new circumstances’. What is more, the Commission has not in fact shown that the measures taken by the Portuguese Government are inappropriate to achieve the objective of the elimination of all discrimination by the end of the transitional period.