CELEX: C2006/022/39
Language: en
Date: 2006-01-28 00:00:00
Title: Case T-418/05: Action brought on  9 November 2005  — Investire Partecipazioni v Commission

28.1.2006   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 22/21
            
         Action brought on 9 November 2005 — Investire Partecipazioni v Commission
   (Case T-418/05)
   (2006/C 22/39)
   Language of the case: Italian
   Parties
   
      Applicant(s): Investire Partecipazioni S.p.A. (Italy) (represented by: Gian Michele Roberti and Alessandra Franchi)
   
      Defendant(s): Commission of the European Communities
   Form of order sought
   The applicant(s) claim(s) that the Court should:
   
               —
            
            
               annul the Commission decision of 11 August 2005, file No 08405, and the supplementary decision of 23 August 2005, file No 08720;
            
         
               —
            
            
               in the alternative, declare unlawful under Article 241 EC and inapplicable paragraph B(12) and paragraph C(2) of datasheet No 19 annexed to the Commission decision of 23 April 1997 (97/322/EC);
            
         
               —
            
            
               order the Commission to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   The present application concerns assistance from a venture-capital fund for an undertaking (Sys S.p.A.) to enable the latter to make an investment in an area which is eligible under objective 2. By its application, the applicant Investire Partecipazioni S.p.A. asks the Court of First Instance to annul the Commission decision of 11 August 2005, file No 08405, concerning the Commission's final position on financial corrections for the purposes of Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 (1) in relation to Measure 1.5 of the Piedmont SPD, objective 2 (1997 — 1999) — venture-capital fund for an investment in the company Sys S.p.A. — and of the supplementary decision of 23 August 2005, file No 08720. It follows from those two decisions that the ineligible Community contribution was EUR 542 277.6, corresponding to the Community participation in the venture-capital fund contribution to the undertaking Sys S.p.A.
   In support of its claims, the applicant puts forward the following pleas in law:
   
               —
            
            
               In the first place, Investire Partecipazioni S.p.A. considers that, by adopting the contested decisions, the Commission committed a manifest error of assessment in fact and in law. The Commission erroneously assessed the facts concerning the investment in the company Sys S.p.A. and proceeded to misapply the relevant legislation, in particular the provisions of datasheet number 19 concerning eligible expenditure under the Structural Funds, ‘Financial engineering: venture-capital funds’, annexed to the Commission decision of 23 April 1997, and Article 24 of Regulation No 4253/88. The applicant emphasises in that connection that the company Sys S.p.A. had in fact taken appropriate action unequivocally directed towards setting up an operational network in the objective 2 zone (2).
            
         
               —
            
            
               Second, the applicant considers that, in adopting the contested decision, the Commission infringed the principle of sound financial management laid down in Article 274 EC and in Article 24 of Regulation No 4253/88.
            
         
               —
            
            
               In the alternative, that is to say in the event of the interpretation of the relevant legislation made by the Commission being held to be correct, Investire Partecipazioni S.p.A. considers that the decisions with which the present proceedings are concerned in any event constitute an infringement of the general principles of legal certainty, protection of legitimate expectations and proportionality, in relation to the conduct of, and the positions taken during the management failures of the Piedmont Fund, by both the Piedmont Region and the Commission, regarding interpretation of the legislation at issue.
            
         
      (1)  Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 of 19 December 1988, laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (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 L 374 of 31.12.1988, p. 1).
   
      (2)  Commission Decision (97/322/EC) of 23 April 1997 modifying the decisions approving the Community support frameworks, the single programming documents and the Community initiative programmes in respect of Italy (OJ L 146 of 5.6.1997, p. 11).