CELEX: C2005/296/72
Language: en
Date: 2005-11-26 00:00:00
Title: Case T-369/05: Action brought on  23 September 2005  — Kingdom of Spain v Commission of the European Communities

26.11.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 296/35
            
         Action brought on 23 September 2005 — Kingdom of Spain v Commission of the European Communities
   (Case T-369/05)
   (2005/C 296/72)
   Language of the case: Spanish
   Parties
   
      Applicant(s): Kingdom of Spain (represented by: D. Fernando Diez Moreno)
   
      Defendant(s): Commission of the European Communities
   Form of order sought
   The applicant(s) claim(s) that the Court should:
   
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               annul Commission Decision of 15 July 2005 (2005/555/2685) in so far as it refers to the financial corrections made in respect of Spain in relation to the conversion and restructuring of vineyards and the measures for the improvement of the production and marketing of honey; and
            
         
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               order the Commission to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   This action is brought against the Commission Decision of 15 July 2005 (2005/555/EC) excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF. Among the exclusions contained in that decision are financial corrections which affect the Kingdom of Spain and apply to the fruit and vegetable sector, the milk sector, public storage, wine and tobacco, animal premiums and the honey sector.
   This action refers exclusively to the correction of the amounts paid by way of compensation for loss of income in the wine sector (EUR 4 790 799,61) and the correction made for the inclusion of VAT in the EAGGF financing in the honey sector (EUR 58 315,34). The applicant takes the view that the Commission bases its arguments on a restrictive interpretation of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in wine (1). The Kingdom of Spain also challenges the VAT rules on the improvement of the production and marketing of honey.
   The Spanish authorities take the view that:
   
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               the loss of income is connected not to grubbing up, but to the very act of planting; and
            
         
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               the Commission's argument that VAT cannot be regarded as an intervention intended to stabilise the markets, since it cannot be financed by the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF, has no legal basis.
            
         
      (1)  OJ L 179 of 14.7.1999, p. 1.