Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 16 December 2020 –

Balti Gaas v Commission and INEA

(Joined Cases T‑236/17 and T‑596/17)

(Financial assistance under the Connecting Europe Facility for the period 2014-2020 – Field of trans-European energy infrastructure – Calls for proposals – Action for failure to act – No invitation to act – Inadmissibility – Action for annulment – Act not open to challenge – Preparatory act – Partial inadmissibility – Decision rejecting a proposal – Manifest errors of assessment – Obligation to state reasons – Competence of the Commission)

1. Judicial proceedings – Application initiating proceedings – Formal requirements – Identification of the subject matter of the dispute – Brief statement 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, first para. and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 76(d)) (see para. 70)

2. Judicial proceedings – Application initiating proceedings – Formal requirements – Pleas – Amendments during the course of proceedings – Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Arts 76 and 84) (see para. 71)

3. Action for annulment – Actionable measures – Definition – Measures producing binding legal effects – Preparatory measures – Letter from the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) informing the addressee of the non-selection of its proposal for financial assistance in the context of a provisional list of proposals accepted – Not included (Art. 263 TFEU) (see paras 87-104)

4. Actions for failure to act – Institution called upon to act – Invitation to act – No clear and express request – Inadmissibility (Art. 265, second para., TFEU) (see paras 112, 113)

5. Judicial proceedings – Objection of inadmissibility – Power of the General Court to dismiss an action on the merits without ruling on the objection of inadmissibility – Extent of its discretion (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Arts 126 and 130) (see paras 117, 118)

6. Economic, social and territorial cohesion – Structural assistance – European Union funding – Major projects – Assessment – Discretion of the Commission – Judicial review – Limits (European Parliament and Council Regulations No 966/2012, No 347/2013 and No 1316/2013) (see paras 146-152, 189)

7. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Individual decisions (Art. 296 TFEU) (see paras 197-211)

Re:

Application, first, under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of the decision allegedly contained in INEA’s letter of 17 February 2017 concerning the applicant’s proposal in response to the second call for proposals published for 2016 in the context of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), on the basis of the multiannual work programme adopted under Commission Implementing Decision C(2016) 1587 final of 17 March 2016 on amending Commission Implementing Decision C(2014) 2080 establishing the multiannual work programme for granting financial aid in the field of trans-European energy infrastructure under the CEF for the period 2014-2020 (Case T‑236/17), and, second, principally, under Article 265 TFEU for a declaration that the Commission unlawfully failed to adopt a reasoned decision regarding the applicant’s proposal and, in the alternative, application for annulment of Commission Implementing Decision C(2017) 1593 final of 14 March 2017 on the selection and award of grants for actions contributing to projects of common interest under the CEF in the field of trans-European energy infrastructure (Case T‑596/17).

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the actions;

2. Orders the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Balti Gaas OÜ in Case T‑236/17, the European Commission being ordered to bear its own costs in that case;

3. Orders Balti Gaas OÜ to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the Commission in Case T‑596/17;