CELEX: C2002/233/63
Language: en
Date: 2002-09-28 00:00:00
Title: Case T-249/02: Action brought on 14 August 2002 by Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) SpA against Commission of the European Communities

C 233/36               EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                      28.9.2002
Gonçalves, residing in Viana do Castelo, represented by João               The applicant claims that the Court should:
Dias Gonçalves, lawyer.
                                                                           —     annul the contested decision;
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                —     in the alternative, declare, under Article 241 of the
                                                                                 Treaty, unlawful and inapplicable Article 22 of Regulation
—     order the Commission of the European Communities to                        No 4253/88 in conjunction with Articles 3 and 4 of
      compensate him at a rate to be set by the Court but at no                  Regulation No 1866/90;
      less than EUR 1 016 200;
                                                                           —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
—     order the Commission to pay all the costs;
—     order the Commission to publish the order against it in
      the European daily and weekly newspapers with the                    Pleas in law and main arguments
      greatest circulation.
                                                                           The present action has been brought against Commission
                                                                           Decision of 31 March 2000, 004484, fixing the final amount
Pleas in law and main arguments                                            in respect of the files ‘Public Bodies’ — P.O. 901010 I1,
                                                                           906022 I1, 906030 I6 and 936030 I6, concerning contri-
                                                                           butions by the European Social Fund. That decision reduced
                                                                           the ESF assistance initially granted to Italy by Decisions of
In support of his claims, the applicant alleges errors in the
                                                                           12 December 1990, C(90) 3017 and of 17 December 1990,
tests in General Competition COM/A/6/01, irregularities in
                                                                           C(90) 2682 and C(90) 2746, adopted pursuant to Article 14(3)
the marking of the tests, infringement of the rules of the
                                                                           of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 of 19 December
competition, of the general principles of transparency, neu-
                                                                           1988, laying down provisions for implementing Regulation
trality and impartiality, and failure to treat the candidates
equally.                                                                   (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), in
In the applicant’s view, his legitimate professional expectations          respect of the financing of operational programmes concerning
were thus prejudiced, so that annulment of the competition
                                                                           Objectives 3 and 4, actions of the Economic Public Bodies to
would not suffice to make good the damage suffered. He                     be undertaken in the southern-central and southern regions,
therefore asks for the material and non-material damage                    and relating to structural action by the Bodies themselves in
suffered by him as a result of its conduct to be compensated,              the regions covered by Objective 1.
in particular loss of earnings, including the benefits which the
applicant should have obtained in all likelihood or probability.
                                                                           In support of its claims, the applicant alleges:
                                                                           —     infringement of the rights of the defence, since at no time
                                                                                 during the administrative procedure was it given an
                                                                                 opportunity to make its views known either to the
                                                                                 national authorities or to the Commission itself.
Action brought on 14 August 2002 by Ricostruzione                          —     misapplication of the relevant legislation, in particular of
Industriale (IRI) SpA against Commission of the European                         the provisions on ECU/national currency exchange rates
                           Communities                                           to be applied for the purpose of determining the avail-
                                                                                 ability of financing for individual operational pro-
                                                                                 grammes within the framework of the ESF, the initial
                         (Case T-249/02)
                                                                                 request having been submitted in the national currency,
                                                                                 which led to a reduction by comparison with the
                         (2002/C 233/63)                                         maximum payable amount under the original decision
                                                                                 granting the funds.
                   (Language of the case: Italian)                         —     the existence of manifest errors of assessment in
                                                                                 implementing a number of deductions on final settlement
                                                                                 of the operational programme which is covered by the
                                                                                 contested decision. In particular, it contains a number of
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                        computational errors committed by the national auth-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                       ority, when it drew up the request for the balance, which
European Communities on 14 August 2002 by Ricostruzione                          did not carry out the checks which it was required to do
Industriale (IRI) SpA, represented by Gian Michele Roberti,                      under the relevant Community legislation regarding ESF
Alessandra Franchi and Roberto De Lisa, lawyers.                                 assistance.
 ---pagebreak--- 28.9.2002              EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                       C 233/37
In the alternative, the applicant alleges breach of the principles               an appropriate and equitable rate in the view of the Court
of equality, proportionality and the protection of legitimate                    and order the defendant to pay the costs.
expectations.
                                                                           Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                           The purpose of these proceedings is to obtain a declaration
Action brought on 20 August 2002 by Autosalone Ispra                       that the EAEC is liable in delict or tort in its own right and/or
  snc against Commission of the European Communities                       jointly and/or severally with other bodies which may be found
                                                                           liable for the events which took place in Ispra on 3 May 2002
                         (Case T-250/02)                                   and the damage suffered as a result. The applicant recalls that
                                                                           on that date it rained extremely heavily in the municipality of
                                                                           Ispra. The premises of the applicant was unexpectedly flooded
                         (2002/C 233/64)
                                                                           following the overflowing of the sewer belonging to the Joint
                                                                           Research Centre of the EAEC-Euratom.
                   (Language of the case: Italian)
                                                                           The applicant points to the danger posed by that sewer and to
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                  its obvious insufficient capacity to carry off water. The
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                 proprietors moreover negligently, recklessly and incom-
European Communities on 20 August 2002 by Autosalone                       petently failed over the years to provide maintenance intended
Ispra snc, represented by Barbara Casu, lawyer.                            to prevent a recurrence and thus undermined also the safety
                                                                           of the adjacent population.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                           On the basis of those considerations the applicant takes the
—    order the EAEC-Euratom to compensate Autosalone Ispra                 view that the Community has incurred non-contractual liability
     snc for the all the damage suffered and to be suffered at             under Article 188(2) of the EAEC Treaty.