CELEX: C1995/119/14
Language: en
Date: 1995-05-13 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 8 March 1995 by the Hellenic Republic against the Commission of the European Communities (Case C-61/95)

13 . 5 . 95            EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 119/7
Action brought on 8 March 1995 by the Hellenic Republic               3 . Aid for the production of olive oil
  against the Commission of the European Communities
                         ( Case C-61/95 )                                 The Commission deducted 10% from the overall
                           ( 95/C 119/14 )                                expenditure, owing to inadequacies which it found in
                                                                          supervision of the payment of aid to producers of olive
                                                                          oil. However, those failings are attributable to objective
An action against the Commission of the European                          impossibility of which the Commission is aware and for
Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of the                which the Greek authorities are not responsible.
European Communities on 8 March 1 995 by the Hellenic
Republic, represented by Panayiotis Milonopoulos, of the
Special Legal Service for the European Communities of the             4. Aid for the production of cotton
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by Meletis Tzotzanis, Head
of the Directorate of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of                    The Commission's refusal to allow as Community
Agriculture, with an address for service in Luxembourg at                 expenditure 50 % of the expenditure in the cotton sector
the Greek Embassy, 177 Val Ste . Croix.                                   must be annulled because the Decision was adopted in a
                                                                          manner which constitutes an infringement of the rights
                                                                          of defence afforded to the Member States by Regulation
The applicant claims that the Court should :                              ( EEC ) No 729/70 on the financing of the common
                                                                          agricultural policy. In fact, although at the official
                                                                          meeting with the Greek authorities the representatives
1 , annul Commission Decision E(94 ) 3308 Rev. of                         of the Commission made no mention of cotton,
     21 December 1994 on the clearance of accounts of the
                                                                          the Commission's Director-General for Agriculture
     Member States in connection with expenditure financed                suddenly announced his decision to disallow 50 % of the
     by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee                  aid made available for the cotton sector .
     Fund ( EAGGF ), Guarantee Section, for the 1991
     financial year, in respect of the sectors challenged in this
     action and the corresponding amounts;                            5 . Tobacco
2, order the Commission to pay the costs of these                         The    Commission's       Decision   to disallow   certain
     proceedings.                                                         expenditure concerning subsidies for leaf tobacco is
                                                                          dated 21 December 1994 . However, the relevant report
                                                                          on which that Decision was based was handed to the
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                       Greek Permanent Representation one day later, that is
                                                                          to say on 22 December 1994. By taking that action the
                                                                          Commission infringed the Hellenic Republic's rights of
1 . Levy in the milk sector                                               defence. Futhermore, the Decision concerning the
                                                                          calculation of expenditure in the tobacco sector must
     The Commission's disallowance as Community                           be annulled on account of the erroneous assessment by
                                                                          the Commission of the factual circumstances and
     expenditure of an amount of Dr 1 592 000 000 is
     unlawful, since it is based on incomplete and                        infringement of the limits of its discretionary power.
     contradictory reasoning and infringes the principles of
     sound administration and of the protection of legitimate
     expectations. In its prior summary report on the
     clearance of accounts for the 1991 financial year the
     Commission aroused the expectation that it would not
     impose any correction on Greece. However, in its final
     decision, against which this action is brought, it gave as
     its reason the United Kingdom's abandonment of                   Reference for a preliminary ruling by the High Court of
     actions for annulment brought by it before the Court            Justice, Queen's Bench Division, by order of that court of
     against decisions concerning the clearance of                    12 October 1994, in the case of The Queen against the
     expenditure in the milk and milk products sector.                       Secretary of State for Social Security, ex-parte:
                                                                                               Eunice Sutton
                                                                                             ( Case C-66/95 )
2 . Levy for exceeding the national guaranteed quantity
                                                                                               ( 95/C 119/15 )
     The Commission's refusal to allow Dr 372 933 493 as
     Community expenditure for failure to notify statistical          Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
     data in connection with direct sales, constitutes a misuse       European Communities by an order of the High Court of
     of its discretionary power. Moreover, the decision in           Justice, Queen's Bench Division, of 12 October 1994, which
     question is unlawful, since it is based on statistical data      was received at the Court Registry on 13 March 1995 , for a
     which the Commission did not evaluate in an objective            preliminary ruling in the case of The Queen against the
     manner, since it took account only of the applications           Secretary of State for Social Security, ex-parte: Eunice
     for the grant of approval .                                      Sutton, on the following question: