CELEX: C2002/289/62
Language: en
Date: 2002-11-23 00:00:00
Title: Case T-291/02: Action brought on 17 September 2002 by González y Díez S.A. against the Commission of the European Communities

23.11.2002              EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                       C 289/33
Action brought on 24 September 2002 by Associazione                       In support of its arguments, the applicant alleges, first, breach
Consorzi Tessili — ASCONTEX against Commission of                         of the duty to provide reasons. According to the applicant, the
                  the European Communities                                Commission never carried out the investigation required under
                                                                          Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 (1), which is
                                                                          applicable in the present case. Thus, the Commission did not
                          (Case T-290/02)                                 invite Italy to submit its comments despite the fact that
                                                                          financial assistance was granted with the support of the Italian
                                                                          Government. Furthermore, the applicant claims that the
                         (2002/C 289/61)                                  Commission failed to reply to its proposals to make changes
                                                                          to the project. The applicant further states that the Commission
                                                                          has not adopted a decision on the eligibility of the expenditure
                   (Language of the case: French)                         incurred by it in relation to the project. According to the
                                                                          applicant, the Commission was in full possession of all the
                                                                          information in that regard.
                                                                          The applicant also alleges breach of the principle of legitimate
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                          expectations. According to the applicant, the Commission has
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 24 September 2002 by Associa-                     not challenged the eligibility of the expenditure incurred by
                                                                          the applicant.
zione Consorzi Tessili — ASCONTEX, whose registered office
is at Milan (Italy), represented by Patrick Mbaya and Laurent
Denis, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg.
                                                                          The last plea in law put forward by the applicant alleges breach
                                                                          of the principle of legal certainty. According to the applicant,
                                                                          the Commission has rejected the expenditure claimed by the
The applicant claims that the Court should:                               applicant for lack of certification whereas it had never made
                                                                          any such observation previously. Moreover, the applicant
                                                                          states that certification for expenditure must be submitted with
—     annul the decision of 12 July 2002 withdrawing financial            the final report for the project.
      assistance from the applicant for the ASCONTEX IBEX
      EURESPRIT project;
                                                                          (1 ) Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 of 19 December 1988
—     declare that the advance of EUR 200 000 is not to be                     laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC)
                                                                               No 2052/88 as regards coordination of the activities of the
      repaid;
                                                                               different Structural Funds between themselves and with the
                                                                               operations of the European Investment Bank and the other
—     annul in part, in the alternative, the decision of 12 July               existing financial instruments (JO L 374, p. 1).
      2002 withdrawing financial assistance from the applicant
      for the ASCONTEX IBEX EURESPRIT project;
—     declare that the advance of EUR 200 000 is to be repaid
      to the Commission only after the latter adopts a decision
      on the eligibility of the expenditure submitted and on the
      proportion of that not used by the applicant;
                                                                          Action brought on 17 September 2002 by González
                                                                          y Díez S.A. against the Commission of the European
—     order, in any event, the defendant to pay the costs.                                             Communities
                                                                                                      (Case T-291/02)
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                                       (2002/C 289/62)
                                                                                               (Language of the case: Spanish)
The applicant is a member of the Italian association of textile
manufacturers. It received from the Commission financial
assistance for an international salon exhibition in the textile
and clothing sector. The salon was to be held in Capri.
                                                                          An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                          ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                          European Communities on 17 September 2002 by the under-
In the contested decision, the Commission withdraws its                   taking González y Díez S.A., Villabona-Llanera (Asturias,
financial assistance and seeks repayment of the advance already           Spain), represented by J. Folguera Crespo, A. Martínez Sánchez
paid.                                                                     and J.C. Engra Moreno, lawyers.
 ---pagebreak--- C 289/34               EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                   23.11.2002
The applicant claims that the Court should:                            The applicant also alleges a breach of the requirement to state
                                                                       reasons.
—     annul Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the Commission Decision of
      2 July 2002 concerning aid granted by Spain to the               (1 ) OJ L 329 of 30.12.1993, p. 12.
      undertaking González y Díez SA for the years 1998,               (2 ) OJ L 83 of 27.3.1999, p. 1.
      2000 and 2001; and
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.
                                                                       Action brought on 23 September 2002 by Eric Vranckx
                                                                            against Commission of the European Communities
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                (Case T-293/02)
Pursuant to Article 1 of the contested Decision, the defendant                                  (2002/C 289/63)
institution found incompatible with the common market part
of the State aid granted to the applicant by the Spanish                                   (Language of the case: French)
authorities in 1998, 2000 and 2001, totalling EUR
5 113 254,96, to cover exceptional costs arising from modern-
isation, rationalisation and restructuring, in accordance with
Article 5 of Decision No 3632/93/ECSC of 28 December
                                                                       An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
1993 establishing Community rules for State aid to the coal
                                                                       ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
industry ( 1).
                                                                       European Communities on 23 September 2002 by Eric
                                                                       Vranckx, residing in Brussels, represented by Albert Coolen,
                                                                       Jean-Noël Louis and Etienne Marchal, lawyers, with an address
                                                                       for service in Luxembourg.
In support of the form of order sought, the applicant claims:
                                                                       The applicant claims that the Court should:
—     fundamental procedural irregularities, contrary to Articles
      88 of the ESCS Treaty and 4(4) of Council Regulation             —     annul the decision of the Selection Board in Competition
      (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down                          COM/B/1/00 in so far as the oral test marks awarded to
      detailed rules for the application of Article 93 (now 88)              the applicant are concerned;
      of the EC Treaty (2), by failing to publish in the Official
      Journal the Commission’s decision to initiate the formal
                                                                       —     order the defendant to pay the costs.
      investigation procedure;
—     numerous manifest errors of assessment, in that the
      Commission based the contested decision on facts which           Pleas in law and main arguments
      are not relevant to the case in question, such as the
      conditions on which the applicant was acquired by Mina
      la Camocha, and ordered the recovery of an amount                The applicant participated in Competition COM/B/1/00. He
      higher than that granted to the applicant. The Com-              contests the failure to include him on the reserve list for
      mission also made an error of fact in considering that the       assistants in the field of information technology and telecom-
      amount of the aid granted for exceptional costs arising          munications.
      from restructuring for the year 2001 was
      ESP 393 971,600, and in failing to take account of certain
      exceptional costs arising from restructuring under the aid       In support of his arguments, the applicant alleges:
      granted in 1998, 2000 and 2001;
                                                                       —     breach of the duty to provide reasons;
—     breach of the principle of protection of legitimate expec-       —     manifest error of assessment;
      tations, in that the Commission asked Spain to recover
      aid previously authorised under Decisions 98/637/ECSC
                                                                       —     failure to take account of the competition notice.
      of 3 June 1998 and 2001/162/ECSC of 13 December
      2000 concerning the granting of aid by Spain to the coal
      industry in the years 1998 and 2000, respectively.