Case T-97/09: Action brought on 4 March 2009 — Germany v Commission
Date: 2009-03-04
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, European Regional Development Fund, Germany, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, database management system, management audit, regional development








C_2009129EN.01001501.xml










6.6.2009   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 129/15





Action brought on 4 March 2009 — Germany v Commission
(Case T-97/09)
2009/C 129/26
Language of the case: German

Parties


Applicant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: M. Lumma and C. von Donat, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought







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Declare void Commission Decision C(2008) 8465 final of 19 December 2008 on the reduction of the assistance from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for an operational programme in the Objective 1 region of the Land of Saxony in the Federal Republic of Germany (1994-1999) in accordance with Commission Decision C(94) 1939/4 of 5 August 1994, Commission Decision C(94) 2273/4 of 22 August 1994 and Commission Decision C(94) 1425 of 6 September 1994;










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Order the Commission to pay the costs of the action.





Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant challenges Commission Decision C(2008) 8465 final of 19 December 2008, by which the financial assistance granted from the European Regional Development Fund for the Objective 1 region of Freistaat Sachsen in the Federal Republic of Germany (1994-1999) was reduced.
The applicant bases its claim on the following grounds:
Firstly, there is no legal basis for the consolidation and extrapolation of financial corrections in the funding period 1994 to 1999.
Secondly, the contested decision infringes Article 24(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88, (1) since the requirements are not met for a reduction to be made.
In particular, the Commission has misapplied the concept of ‘irregularity’ and has established important factual elements without any foundation for doing so. The assumption of systematic errors in administration and monitoring is based on incorrect findings of fact.
In the alternative, the applicant submits that the Commission has not used the discretion given to it pursuant to Article 24(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88. The lump sum corrections were disproportionate and the extrapolation was incorrectly calculated.
The applicant complains in addition that insufficient reasons were given for the contested decision. The derivation and grounds for the size of the consolidation applied could not be deduced from those reasons.
Finally, the applicant submits that the defendant infringed the principle of cooperation, since, despite the finding of operational capability of the administrative and monitoring systems in an administrative agreement, it complains in the contested decision of systematic deficiencies in the administrative and monitoring systems.


(1)  Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 of 19 December 1988, laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards coordination of the activities of the different Structural Funds between themselves and with the operations of the European Investment Bank and the other existing financial instruments (OJ 1988 L 374, p. 1).