Case C-797/18 P: Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 30 April 2020 — Hellenic Republic v European Commission (Appeal — European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) — Expenditure excluded from EU financing — Expenditure incurred by the Hellenic Republic — Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 — Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 — Regulation (EC) No 1120/2009 — Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 — Area-related aid scheme — Concept of ‘permanent pasture’ — Flat-rate financial corrections — Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 — Assessment of the eligibility of expenditure — Managing authority — Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 — Expenses covered by the 24-month period — Regulation (EC) No 817/2004 — System of effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties — Method of calculating the correction)
Date: 2020-04-30
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EAFRD, EAGF, agricultural expenditure, aid per hectare, aid to agriculture, eligibility criteria, grassland, reimbursement of aid, single payment scheme








C_2020240EN.01001302.xml










20.7.2020   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 240/13






Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 30 April 2020 — Hellenic Republic v European Commission
(Case C-797/18 P) (1)

(Appeal - European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) - Expenditure excluded from EU financing - Expenditure incurred by the Hellenic Republic - Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 - Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 - Regulation (EC) No 1120/2009 - Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 - Area-related aid scheme - Concept of ‘permanent pasture’ - Flat-rate financial corrections - Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 - Assessment of the eligibility of expenditure - Managing authority - Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 - Expenses covered by the 24-month period - Regulation (EC) No 817/2004 - System of effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties - Method of calculating the correction)
(2020/C 240/17)
Language of the case: Greek

Parties


Appellant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: G. Kanellopoulos and E. Leftheriotou and A. Vasilopoulou, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings: European Commission (represented by: M. Konstantinidis, D. Triantafyllou and J. Aquilina, acting as Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Sets aside point 1 of the operative part of the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 4 October 2018, Greece v Commission (T-272/16, not published, EU:T:2018:651), in so far as the General Court dismissed the action brought by the Hellenic Republic concerning the flat-rate corrections of 25 % and 10 % applied to area payments for pasture in respect of the claim years 2012 and 2013 and the one-off correction of EUR 37 163 161,78 in respect of the claim year 2013, imposed by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/417 of 17 March 2016 on excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) as a result of weaknesses in the definition and control of eligible permanent pasture;










2.


Sets aside point 2 of the operative part of the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 4 October 2018, Greece v Commission (T-272/16, not published, EU:T:2018:651) in so far as it ruled on costs;










3.


Dismisses the appeal as to the remainder;










4.


Annuls Implementing Decision 2016/417 in so far as it imposes on the Hellenic Republic flat-rate corrections of 25 % and 10 % applied to area payments for pasture in respect of claim years 2012 and 2013, as well as the one-off correction of EUR 37 163 161,78applied in respect of claim year 2013, in respect of weaknesses in the definition and control of eligible permanent pasture;










5.


Orders the Hellenic Republic and the European Commission to bear their own costs at first instance and on appeal.






(1)  OJ C 72, 25.2.2019.