CELEX: C1997/318/06
Language: en
Date: 1997-10-18 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 4 July 1997 by the Hellenic Republic against the Commission of the European Communities (Case C-243/97)

C 318/4                    EN               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 18 . 10 . 97
— that general meeting took place before completion of                  Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
       the audit of the parent company 's annual accounts for
       that financial year, and
                                                                       A. Disallowance of expenditure in the olive
                                                                            oil sector
— the national court is satisfied that the subsidiary 's
       annual accounts for the financial year in question give
       a true and fair view of its assets and liabilities,             In the view of the Hellenic Republic the financial
       financial position and profit or loss,                          corrections in the olive oil sector are the result of a
                                                                       mistaken assessment of the factual circumstances and of
                                                                       the Commission exceeding the limits of its discretion . The
                                                                       Hellenic Republic had informed the Commission of the
it is not contrary to the rule laid down in                            objective difficulties of establishing a register of olive
Article 31 (1 ) (c) (aa) of the fourth Council Directive 78/           cultivation within the period laid down in Regulations
660/EEC based on Article 54 (3) (g) of the Treaty on the                ( EEC ) No 154/75 and ( EEC) No 3453/80 and had bona
annual accounts of certain types of companies, as                      fide collaborated with it to resolve those difficulties . It
amended by the seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC                    could, consequently, rely on the impossibility of
based on Article 54 (3) (g) of the Treaty on consolidated              implementing a Community measure, in accordance with
accounts, for the national court to consider that the
                                                                       the case-law in Case C-52/84 Commission v. Belgium and
profits in question must be entered in the parent                      Case C-348/93 Commission v. Italy. Moreover, the flat­
company 's balance sheet for the financial year in respect             rate reduction of the amount of aid for the production of
of which they were appropriated by the subsidiary.                     olive oil is arbitrary and exceeds the limits of the
                                                                       discretionary power of the Commission.
H OJ C 288 , 15 . 10 . 1994 , p . 2 .
( 2 ) OJ C 336 , 9 . 11 . 1996 , p . 3 .
                                                                       B. Disallowance of expenditure in the
                                                                            tobacco sector
                                                                       The Hellenic Republic claims that the Commission has
                                                                       wrongly interpreted the Regulations in question . It refers
Action brought on 4 July 1997 by the Hellenic Republic                 on this point to its arguments in Case C-61/95 on which
     against the Commission of the European Communities                the judgment of the Court of Justice is awaited and which
                                                                       concerned the accounts for the year 1991 .
                            ( Case C-243/97
                              ( 97/C 318/06
                                                                       C. Disallowance of expenditure for the
                                                                            cultivation of vineyards
An action against the Commission of the European
Communities was brought before the Court of Justice on                 The applicant relies on the difficulties of establishing the
4 July 1997 by the Hellenic Republic, represented by                   vineyard register of which it informed the Commission
Ioannis-Konstantinos Khalkias, Member of the State Legal               and which the Council recognized, extending the period
Service, and Elli Mamouna, of the Special Legal                        for completing the register in question until 31 December
Department for the European Communities in the                         1998 . Moreover, the local controls of grubbed­
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with an address for service in            up vineyards concerned 100% of the cases aided.
Luxembourg at the Greek Embassy, 177 Val Ste Croix.                    Consequently, the flat-rate financial correction of 2%
                                                                       imposed is unjustified.
The Hellenic Republic claims that the Court should:
                                                                       D. Disallowance of expenditure in the public
                                                                            storage of cereal sector
— hold the application admissible,
                                                                      The Hellenic Republic maintains that for 1993 it applied
                                                                      in this sector a new control system, radically different
— annul or amend Commission Decision E(97) 1180                        from the previous system, and the Commission itself, in its
      final of 23 April 1997 on the clearance of the accounts          summary statement, acknowledged the improvements
      presented by the Member States in respect of the                made . Consequently a flat-rate correction of 2 % was
      expenditure for 1993 of the EAGGF, Guarantee                     imposed erroneously in that sector.
      Section, as regards the specifically-contested chapters
      which relate to financial corrections in the olive oil,
      tobacco, wine and cereals ( public storage ) sectors.