33

In the present case, the General Court found as follows in paragraphs 122 to 128 and 130 to 132 of the judgment under appeal: ‘122 The Commission recalled in the contested decision, that the Court had already held in the judgment in Freskot [(C‑355/00, EU:C:2003:298)] that “the national legislation at issue clearly establishe[d] that the benefits provided by ELGA [were] granted through State resources and [were] imputable to the State within the meaning of the Court’s case-law (see, in particular, France v Commission, [C‑482/99, EU:C:2002:294], paragraph 24)” (recital 58). 123 The Commission found that: “... under Article 5(a) of Law … 1790/1988 ... and other provisions of Greek legislation in force, ELGA’s income from the special contribution was collected by the tax authorities, entered in the State budget as State revenue and paid to ELGA from the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture (now the Ministry of Rural Development and Food). Consequently, the fact that the contributions in question are entered into the accounts as State revenue is sufficient to consider that the payments made by ELGA were financed by State resources” (recital 58). 124 Those findings, which are not disputed by the Hellenic Republic, suffice to conclude that the compensation payments that correspond to the contributions by farmers are State resources and are imputable to the State. 125 Therefore, contrary to what the Hellenic Republic claims, the part of the payments corresponding to the contributions by farmers may not be regarded as being private funds. Accordingly, the fact that a part of the payments made in 2008 was financed by contributions by farmers does not preclude these being State aid financed by resources imputable to the State. 126 Moreover, contrary to what the Hellenic Republic claims, the classification as State aid does not apply to the contributions paid by farmers but to the payments made in 2008. In that regard, it must be recalled that it has been held in the context of the first and second pleas in law that neither the compensatory nature of the measures, nor the fact that they are justified by a social objective, precludes the payments made by ELGA being classified as an advantage. 127 Furthermore, the Hellenic Republic concedes that the contributions paid by farmers are not proportionate to risk and that it is possible that certain farmers pay a contribution without receiving compensation payments from ELGA. The payments made in 2008 were therefore independent of the contributions paid by the farmers and constituted an advantage that the beneficiary undertaking could not have obtained under normal market conditions. 128 It follows from the foregoing that the Commission was fully entitled to find that the payments made by ELGA in 2008 were advantages financed by State resources, even if they were financed in part by contributions by farmers. The Hellenic Republic has not shown that the Commission erred in classifying those payments as State aid. ... 130 The contested decision states that the compensation payments made by ELGA in 2009, of EUR 415019452 in total, were made on the basis of the Inter-ministerial decree. The Inter-ministerial decree provided for compensation of EUR 425 million, on an exceptional basis, for damage in 2008 and stated that, for the purpose of paying that compensation, ELGA would take out a loan, guaranteed by the State, with a bank, for the total amount ... 131 It follows that the Commission was correct in finding that the compensation payments made in 2009 were not financed by the contributions paid under the ELGA compulsory insurance scheme ... . 132 Therefore, contrary to what the Hellenic Republic claims, the contributions paid by farmers in 2009 under the compulsory insurance scheme may not be regarded as financing part of the aid paid in 2009.’