Case C-103/14: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 12 November 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Vilniaus apygardos administracinis teismas — Lithuania) — Bronius Jakutis, Kretingalės kooperatinė ŽŪB v Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūra prie Žemės ūkio ministerijos, Lietuvos valstybė (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Agriculture — Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 — Articles 7(1), 10(1), 121 and 132(2) — Acts implementing that regulation — Validity, in the light the TFEU Treaty, the 2003 Act of Accession and the principles of non-discrimination, legal certainty, the protection of legitimate expectations and sound administration — Modulation of direct payments granted to farmers — Reduction of the amounts — Level of direct payments applicable in the Member States of the European Community as constituted on 30 April 2004 and in the Member States that joined it on 1 May 2004 — No publication and no statement of reasons)
Date: 2015-11-12
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU Member State, aid to agriculture, equal treatment, interpretation of the law, principle of legal certainty, right to justice, single payment scheme








C_2016016EN.01000501.xml










18.1.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 16/5





Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 12 November 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Vilniaus apygardos administracinis teismas — Lithuania) — Bronius Jakutis, Kretingalės kooperatinė ŽŪB v Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūra prie Žemės ūkio ministerijos, Lietuvos valstybė
(Case C-103/14) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Agriculture - Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 - Articles 7(1), 10(1), 121 and 132(2) - Acts implementing that regulation - Validity, in the light the TFEU Treaty, the 2003 Act of Accession and the principles of non-discrimination, legal certainty, the protection of legitimate expectations and sound administration - Modulation of direct payments granted to farmers - Reduction of the amounts - Level of direct payments applicable in the Member States of the European Community as constituted on 30 April 2004 and in the Member States that joined it on 1 May 2004 - No publication and no statement of reasons))
(2016/C 016/05)
Language of the case: Lithuanian

Referring court

Vilniaus apygardos administracinis teismas

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: Bronius Jakutis, Kretingalės kooperatinė ŽŪB

Defendants: Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūra prie Žemės ūkio ministerijos, Lietuvos valstybė

Intervening parties: Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybė, Lietuvos Respublikos žemės ūkio ministerija

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Articles 7(1), 10(1) and 121 of Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 of 19 January 2009 establishing common rules for direct support schemes for farmers under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1290/2005, (EC) No 247/2006, (EC) No 378/2007 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘level of direct payments applicable in the Member States other than new Member States’ must be interpreted as meaning that that level was, in 2012, equal to 90 % of the level of all direct payments and that the concept of ‘level of direct payments in the new Member States’ must be interpreted as meaning that that level was, in 2012, equal to that in the Member States of the European Community as constituted on 30 April 2004.










2.


Commission Implementing Decision C(2012) 4391 final of 2 July 2012 authorising the granting of complementary national direct payments in Lithuania in respect of the year 2012, is invalid since the consideration of the questions referred has disclosed no factor of such a kind as to affect the validity of the end of Article 10(1) and the end of the final subparagraph of Article 132(2) of Regulation No 73/2009.










3.


The consideration of those questions has not revealed any factor capable of affecting the validity of the final subparagraph of Article 132(2) of Regulation No 73/2009, as worded following the corrigendum published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 18 February 2010.










4.


The meaning of the word ‘dydis’, used in the Lithuanian language version of the final subparagraph of Article 1c(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 of 17 May 1999 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy, which was inserted into the regulation by the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded is the same as that of the word ‘lygis’, used in the Lithuanian language version of the final subparagraph of Article 132(2) of Regulation No 73/2009.






(1)  OJ C 142, 12.5.2014.