CELEX: C2001/245/36
Language: en
Date: 2001-09-01 00:00:00
Title: Case T-126/01: Action brought on 8 June 2001 by Eduardo Vieira SA against Commission of the European Communities

C 245/22                EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                         1.9.2001
Action brought on 8 June 2001 by Eduardo Vieira SA                              The EC/Argentina Agreement contains no provision
    against Commission of the European Communities                              governing suspension, withdrawal or reduction of Com-
                                                                                munity assistance granted with a view to the setting up
                                                                                of a joint company, nor does it contain any reference to
                         (Case T-126/01)                                        general legislation in that regard. In view of such a legal
                                                                                lacuna, the Commission has deliberately failed to take
                                                                                into account that what is involved is a particular legal
                         (2001/C 245/36)                                        framework, namely an international agreement (lex speci-
                                                                                alis), and has applied general legislation instead, which
                                                                                governs exclusively Community situations in the context
                                                                                of structural funds. The applicant claims that the Com-
                                                                                mission ought to have based itself on general legislation
                   (Language of the case: Spanish)                              while taking account of the special nature of international
                                                                                agreements and, in particular, of the role of the joint
                                                                                committee and of the Argentinian authorities.
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 8 June 2001 by Eduardo Vieira,                   —      Secondly, and in the alternative, the irregularity alleged
whose registered office is at Vigo (Spain), represented by                      by the Commission in order to justify its decision to
Ramón Garcia-Gallardo and Mª Dolores Domı́nguez Pérez.                         reduce the assistance does not in fact exist.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                                In the applicant’s view, the Commission has misassessed
—     find the present application admissible;                                  the facts and incorrectly interpreted the EC/Argentina
                                                                                Agreement in so far as, first, the decision taken by the
—     join the present action to Case T-44/01,                                  undertaking which owns the vessel, joint company Vieira
                                                                                Argentina SA, to abandon the Argentinian fishing banks
                                                                                was justified, since it was taken, in view of the poor state
—     annul Commission Decision C(2001) 680 final of                            of stocks of Patagonian toothfish and the measures
      19 March 2001 reducing the assistance granted to                          adopted by the Argentinian authorities, as the only option
      ‘Sociedad Anónima Eduardo Vieira’ by Commission                          if the viability of the company was to be maintained and
      Decision C(95)1910 of 25 July 1995, amended by                            the exported vessel to continue to operate; moreover, the
      Decision C(96) 584 final/2 of 4 march 1996, for a project                 decision was taken with the express authorisation of the
      relating to the setting-up of joint companies in the fishing              Argentinian authorities.
      sector (ARG/ESP/SM/26-94);
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.
                                                                                The applicant further states that the contested decision is
                                                                                inconsistent, since it reduces the assistance granted to the
                                                                                Community shipbuilder, but is silent with regard to the
                                                                                financial contribution granted to the joint company
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                 (Vieira Argentina SA), which owns and operates the
                                                                                vessel. The Commission thus disregards, once again, the
                                                                                fact that it is a one-off grant of assistance made up of two
                                                                                indissociable parts.
The Commission bases its decision to reduce the Community
financial assistance (1) on the fact that the Argentinian joint
undertaking which owned the vessel decided that the vessel
should fish in international waters, outside Argentinian waters,
a decision for which no reasons were given and which,
moreover, was never approved by the Commission.                          (1) Assistance granted by the Commission in 1995, in the context of
                                                                             Council Regulation (EEC) No 3447/93 of 28 September 1993 on
                                                                             the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Economic
                                                                             Community and the Argentine Republic on relations in the sea
The applicant claims that the contested decision is null and                 fisheries sector (OJ 1993 L 318, p. 1).
void on the following grounds:
—     First, the legal basis used by the Commission in order to
      determine the applicable procedure in order to reduce the
      contribution and calculate its amount is erroneous.