Case C-501/25, Partido Popular de Andalucía: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Audiencia Provincial de Sevilla (Spain) lodged on 17 July 2025 – Criminal proceedings against Tamara and Others
Date: 2025-07-17
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Andalusia, abuse of power, breach of trust, budgetary procedure, constitutional court, corruption, courts and tribunals, infringement of EU law, judicial review, right to justice








C_202506487EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/6487


15.12.2025






Request for a preliminary ruling from the Audiencia Provincial de Sevilla (Spain) lodged on 17 July 2025 – Criminal proceedings against Tamara and Others


(Case C-501/25, Partido Popular de Andalucía)

(C/2025/6487)
Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Audiencia Provincial de Sevilla

Parties to the main proceedings


Defendants: Tamara, Marcelino, Indalecio, Mateo, Constancio, Santiago, Guillermo, Carlos Daniel, Enriqueta, Juan María, Fulgencio, Carmelo, Humberto, Juan Francisco, Rodolfo and Francisco

Prosecuting parties: Partido Popular de Andalucía, Manos Limpias and Ministerio Fiscal

Questions referred







1.


Are Article 2 and the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU, Article 325(1) TFEU, Article 2 of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, signed in Brussels on 26 July 1995, (1) Articles 47 and 49 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Council Regulation No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests, (2) Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law, (3) and the case-law applying and interpreting these, to be interpreted as precluding national legislation or a national practice in accordance with which the Tribunal Constitucional (Constitutional Court, Spain), as a court which is not part of the judicial system, exceeds the limits of its powers of review and encroaches on areas reserved to the jurisdiction of the judges and courts by re-examining, through an alternative interpretation of the elements of the offences of breach of public duties and misappropriation of public funds, the assessment of the evidence and the adjudication of whether the facts come within the definition of the offence carried out by the ordinary national courts?











2.


Are Article 2 and the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU, Article 325(1) TFEU, Article 2 of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, signed in Brussels on 26 July 1995, Articles 47 and 49 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Council Regulation No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests, Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law, and the case-law applying and interpreting these, to be interpreted as precluding national legislation or a national practice in accordance with which the preliminary draft laws, bills and Laws on the budgets of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia for the years 2002 to 2009 are interpreted in a way which contravenes European Union legislation and case-law, by totally removing from the scope of review anything which relates to budget activity from the initial preparation stage to the final implementation stage of a budget, such that it could create a situation where the public finances are left unprotected and undermine both the proper functioning of State financial activities and the trust of society in the honest management of public funds and the duties of loyalty and transparency incumbent on public officials who are responsible for the assets of the public administrative authorities?











3.


Are Article 2 and the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU, Article 325(1) TFEU, Article 2 of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, signed in Brussels on 26 July 1995, Articles 47 and 49 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Council Regulation No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests, Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law, and the case-law applying and interpreting these, to be interpreted as precluding national legislation or a national practice in accordance with which the preliminary draft laws, bills and Laws on the budgets of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia for the years 2002 to 2009 are interpreted in contravention of European Union legislation and case-law and of the international requirements (i) to fight against political corruption, fraud and illegal activities affecting the European Union’s financial interests, (ii) to prevent and combat corruption in general and (iii) to provide for the application of effective and dissuasive penalties where such offences occur?











4.


Are the principle of the primacy of European Union law, Article 2 and the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU, Article 325(1) TFEU, Articles 47 and 49 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and the case-law applying and interpreting these, to be interpreted as allowing an ordinary national court – acting as a court of the European Union, in accordance with EU law and the Treaties and the case-law of the Court of Justice – not to apply judgments of the national Tribunal Constitucional (Constitutional Court) which interpret the preliminary draft laws, bills and Laws on the budgets of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia for the years 2002 to 2009 in such a way that it results in the conduct of certain defendants being deemed lawful, when an ordinary national court has held that (i) those budgetary provisions do not preclude classification as a criminal offence and completely exclude from the scope of review anything related to budgetary activity from the initial preparation stage of a budget to the final implementation stage, and (ii) where the interpretation of the Tribunal Constitucional (Constitutional Court) conflicts with international requirements to fight against political corruption, fraud and illegal activity affecting the European Union’s financial interests, to prevent and combat corruption in general and to provide for the application of effective and dissuasive penalties in the event that such offences occur?







(1)  
            OJ 1995, C 316, p. 48.

(2)  
            OJ 1995, L 312, p. 1.

(3)  
            OJ 2017, L 198, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/6487/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)