Case T-502/15: Action brought on 1 September 2015 — Spain v Commission
Date: 2015-09-01
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: Canary Islands, Catalonia, EAFRD, EAGF, Spain, aid to agriculture, closing of accounts, common agricultural policy, evaluation method, rights of the defence








C_2015346EN.01003601.xml










19.10.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 346/36





Action brought on 1 September 2015 — Spain v Commission
(Case T-502/15)
(2015/C 346/41)
Language of the case: Spanish

Parties


Applicant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: L. Banciella Rodríguez-Miñón)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the court should:






—


annul in part the Commission Implementing Decision of 22 June 2015 excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agriculture Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), in so far as it concerns the Kingdom of Spain;










—


order the European Commission to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on four pleas in law.
In relation to the Catalan Autonomous Community:






1.


The imposition of a flat-rate correction in the amount of EUR 609 337,80 and the method of calculation used, were contrary to Article 31(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, the guidelines set out in Commission document No VI/5330/97 of 23 December 1997 (Guidelines for the calculation of financial consequences when preparing the decision regarding the clearance of the accounts of the EAGFF Guarantee section) and to the document AGRI-64043-2005 (Commission Communication on how the Commission intends in the context of the EAGGF-Guarantee clearance procedure to handle shortcomings in the context of cross-compliance control systems implemented by Member States) in so far as it is inappropriate to apply a flat-rate assessment, since the Kingdom of Spain had provided a specific evaluation of the actual risks for the fund. The implementing measure adopted by the Commission was not only incorrect, but also disproportionate and unjustified.










2.


The addition of a specific correction in the amount of EUR 609 337,80 to the general flat-rate correction of 2 % and the method of calculation are contrary to Article 31(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and to the Commission documents on the guidelines for the calculation of financial corrections, because it is not appropriate to use two methods of calculation at the same time for the same infringement. To proceed in that way is not only legally incoherent but also disproportionate and unjustified.










3.


The correction imposed for the 2010 application year, the 2011/2012 financial year, infringes Article 31(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, implies failure to observe the principle of sincere cooperation and infringes the rights of defence of the Kingdom of Spain in so far as the defendant has unduly extended the financial correction to cover the period subsequent to the 24 months preceding the Communication, even though the shortcomings had already been rectified by the Kingdom of Spain.




In relation to the Autonomous Community of the Canaries on the basis of the following plea in law:






4.


The correction imposed at a flat-rate on the sum of EUR 1 689 689,03 and the method of calculation used are contrary to Article 31(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and the guidelines set out in Commission document AGRI/D/40474/2010-REV 1.