Case T-4/02: Action brought on 16 January 2002 by Arca Delio eredi and Others against Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2002-03-02
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: EU aid, Italy, State aid, action for annulment (EU), aid to agriculture, regional aid

C 56/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

2.3.2002

Action brought on 16 January 2002 by Arca Delio
eredi and Others against Commission of the European
Communities

(Case T-4/02)

(2002/C 56/36)

(Language of the case: Italian)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 16 January 2002 by the abovemen-
tioned applicants, represented by Costantino Murgia and
Andrea Delitala, lawyers.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— uphold the present application; annul

the contested

decision; and make an appropriate order as to costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicants in the present case are challenging the decision
of the Commission relating to aid in the form of consolidation
loans, granted by the Sardinia Region to certain farmers and
agricultural undertakings established there. In the contested
decision, the defendant finds that Italy has failed to fulfil its
obligation to give prior notification of the aid measures at the
draft stage,
implemented those same measures before the
Commission has given its opinion and granted aid incompat-
ible with the common market within the meaning of Article 92
(now Article 87) of the Treaty and which does not, moreover,
meet the exemption conditions provided for by Article 87(2)
and (3).

Sardinian agricultural undertakings which had made invest-
ments involving financial commitments which they were not
able to honour for various reasons, such as prolonged periods
of drought, crises in the markets, lack of organisation in the
marketing stage of the products and high interest rates.

In support of their arguments, the applicants allege infringe-
ment and misapplication of Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty,
the ‘specific Commission practice for aid to farms in difficulty’,
the ‘Community guidelines on State aid for rescuing and
restructuring firms in difficulty’, Commission decision on ‘de
aid No 96/C/68/06, Council Regulation (EC)
minimis’
No 994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 92
and 93 of the Treaty establishing the European Community to
certain categories of horizontal State aid, (1) and Commission
Regulation (EC) No 69/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the
application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis
aid; (2) the applicants also allege misuse of powers.

The applicants point out, in particular, the extremely serious
situation of the recipient undertakings, the situation in which
Sardinia finds itself from the point of view of its economic
development, the little likelihood that the aid scheme in issue
will have an impact on trade or compromise or distort the
rules on competition, and the fact that the assistance granted
amounts to less than EUR 100 000 for each recipient, a
threshold deemed admissible and which is not harmful to
competition under the de minimis applicable in State aid
matters. Furthermore, so far as concerns the practice for aid to
the aid was
farms in difficulty, the applicants state that
intended to cover earlier contractual obligations relating to
investments, does not exceed the levels or the rates laid down
by the Commission for the agricultural products processing
and marketing sector, bearing in mind that Sardinia is an
Objective 1 area, and that the aid in issue was also intended to
offset fluctuations in currency values and was granted to the
applicants as owners of farms which are sufficiently likely to
regain economic viability.

The aid which constitutes the subject matter of the present
case was granted in response to the crisis being faced by

(1) OJ L 142, 1998, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 10, 2001, p. 30.